The Gaiden Chapters
by seashellsally
Summary: Boredom is a terrible thing. Alleviating it can be tricky. For some people it's simple to dispel. Others require kidnapping, imprisoning others inside a video game then mocking their monstrously bad growths. Boredom is a terrible thing.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: C is for Chloroform (Judy)

Should you take a trip to Ocean City, New Jersey during the late weeks of May you will find many things. Gorgeous beach cottages lining the streets, warm balmy days, and the crashing ocean that is freezing cold are the many aspects of this town that attracts vacationers from New England. It's still not tourist season yet so if you were to roam down the boardwalk late at night you would have a chance of bumping into Judy Geisler. And who is Judy Geisler you might ask? A gal from Philly. What? You were expecting something more? Unfortunately for you Judy is not Superman, that's for sure. And she's not Batman, or Spiderman, or Aquaman, or a merman, or a wolfman. She's not a brahman, or uncommon, or ramen. She's not a caiman either, so you don't really need to worry about anything. I guess you could say... She is no man. The specifics are rather boring; she is a senior at West Virginia University with a 3.4 G.P.A majoring in Accounting and on track to graduating in the fall. She has a mom and a dad and a younger sister. Her parents make good money, good enough for them to be able to rent a beach cottage for the entire summer here in Ocean City. Since birth she's played among the dunes here every summer.

That familiarity with this town bred a sense of security strong enough for her to be wandering down the boardwalk alone before the summer season in Ocean City kicks off. Because it's still early there aren't as many tourists on the boardwalk especially at one o'clock in the morning. Her mind is filled with thoughts too, thoughts that make her ignorant of her surroundings. These thoughts are about the future, the life she will lead after graduation. Like every young person from every generation ever she feels inadequately prepared to be an independent adult. It's these deep thoughts that prevent her from hearing the very quiet tapping of shoes hitting the boards behind her. Perhaps if she had been alert she might have noticed she was being stalked. Perhaps she might have escaped him or, perhaps, she was doomed from the start because there aren't any tourists on the boardwalk because the season hasn't started yet.

Disaster is a strange fellow, sometimes he can approach with an agonizing crawl. How did ancient civilizations cope with a yearlong famine that destroyed their crops and subjected them to starvation? How does Venice cope knowing there is precious time before the vast majority of their city sinks into the sea thanks to the structural damage the salt has inflicted over the centuries? But sometimes disaster is a quick little bugger. It reaches out and destroys what was once a perfectly harmless moment. One second Judy was walking aimlessly without a care in world past the hotel on 3rd street heading for 2nd street when something cloth like was thrust into her face. A cloying smell assaulted her nostrils making her gag for a second as her brain raced along trying to figure out what the body was doing. Instinctually she jerked back trying to move her face to the side but a hand pressed itself against the crown of her head keeping her in place. The world began to blur and shift like a mirage forcing Judy to take a staggering step to the side. Even though the anesthesia was making short work of her brain two thoughts emerged in her head making her panic. The first was the belayed realization about what was going on, she was being kidnapped. The second was that her cellphone was on the charger back at the beach house. Before the darkness set in completely she noted the pink-blue light glimmering off in the distance. Ever since she was a little she had gazed at it in wonder. It was part of the nightly parade of lights that illuminated from Atlantic City. Her father theorized that it was the sign from the casino known as the Flamingo but since she had never been to Atlantic City Judy could never be sure.

Her mysterious attacker retreated as quickly as he could. He wasn't terribly fit so he was forced to drag the body behind him. It made a rhythmic whumping noise as the tip of her shoes whacked up against the slats of weathered wood which made him check around nervously. He had checked his surroundings multiple times as he stalked her and he was 99.9% sure there was no one within the immediate vicinity. Still, lollygagging would only enlarge his margin for error so he picked up his pace. There was a ramp leading down onto 3rd Street that he took that was lined with beach houses. Grabbing a disposable phone from his pocket he checked the menu, he had one unread message. It was from his accomplice's phone "b thur n 2 min" the message read. The kidnapper looked around again; this was the most vulnerable part of their operation. After jumping at imaginary policemen emerging from the sandy scrub brush keeping the sand dunes together the flash of the headlights nearly made him wet himself. Quickly he pushed the body under the boardwalk and did his best to look nonchalant. Behind his back he applied a new layer of chloroform to the rag; if he had to he would add to their quota.

Lucky for him it was his accomplice driving their pitiful little Prius down the street. Parking in the middle of the roundabout he got out and opened the passenger door before assisting the kidnapper with placing the body into the back seat of the car. The pair unconsciously scanned the street; no lights were on in the windows. "Do you have it," the kidnapper asked rhetorically. The accomplice pulled a device out of his pocket, "This thing would get way more dangerous if it wasn't. I bet you a thousand dollars we would get caught if we had to drive back home."

"Lucky for us that's a situation we'll never have to be in." The kidnapper smirked and turned the device on, the screen glowed and loaded.

"Pick her up" the kidnapper instructed. His accomplice hoisted Judy's unconscious body into a standing position with his arms on her shoulders.

"Work that freaky magic bro," the accomplice said as the weirdness began.

After it was done the kidnappers climbed into the car, "Should we wait until we get home or should we start now?"

The kidnapper smiled, he was excited at what was about to begin. "I'll make sure the volume is turned up all the way so you can listen too." Pressing his forefinger to the touch screen he hit a button. The machine gave a confirmation chime to signal that a new game had begun.

Usually, in these kinds of situations, a person stirs a bit before realizing they are in a strange new place then vault off the bed with their brain firing on all cylinders. Judy was rather slow when to came to that epiphany. Instead of action fast reflexes she yawned and drowsed on without so much as a thought pertaining to her surroundings. Eventually sleep wore off leaving her staring aimlessly up at the ceiling. "That's such a weird ceiling," she commented to herself. "What the hell is it made of?" It looked like straw but it was rougher, coarser, braided in such a way that it effectively blocked out most of the sun streaming in from above. "Wait a moment," Judy said, slowly getting closer. "Who the hell has a roof made of…not cement or wood? That's weird." Picking herself up she gazed about the room quizzically. "This looks…quaint," she breathed, drawing closer to it. It was a pretty small room made out of rough hewn rock with a small wooden cot, which she was laying on, with a dirt floor and nothing else furniture wise. "Where the hell am I?" she asked and then BAM, epiphany. Epiphany was followed by panic attack, fetal position, speculation over why she had been kidnapped, panic attack over realizing that all those horror stories on the news about silly girls like her wandering about alone at night were about to happen to her. For an unknown amount of time she switched between panic attacks and paralyzing fear.

Eventually boredom ground down the fear leaving her in a limbo between a phantom fear of the beyond and the curiosity about what lay beyond the door. Their love child was apathy reducing Judy to quivering pile of sad sap gazing at the door from her position on the bed. She waited for horrors to emerge from the doorway but they never came. Boredom set in again. It overwhelmed her mind so much that fear promptly vanished into thin air and the logic that it couldn't get any worse roused her from bed. Pushing herself up, she had been lying down on the bed face down, Judy quietly tiptoed her way over to the door. It was a poorly crafted thing; it had not been sanded at all with a cheap door handle nailed to the right side. Gripping the tarnished metal Judy slowly dragged it back. The hinges gave a horrendous squeaking noise alerting the single occupant in the next room of her presence. Peering out from behind the door she looked around. The room was a bit bigger than the one she had come out of and just as sparsely decorated. There was a small fireplace built into the west side of the wall. Sun streamed in through two windows which were crisscrossed with thin metal lines so each pane looked like it was made up of fat vertical diamonds. A clone of the door she was leaning up against was on the east wall. There were several brass pots and pans stacked up in the far west corner but they didn't look all that dirty. There was a table in the middle of the room, carved from the same wood as the doors. It was a small, square table fit for two people. The top was worn down, not by a sander but from the wear and tear of everyday life. It looked faintly shiny, like grease. There were two small stools so people could dine on it, one of those stools was bigger and someone was seated on it.

It was a man, possibly her captor. He certainly looked like he could drag her into a white van and drive away. He was over six feet, Judy was terrible with measuring height so she couldn't be sure but she guessestimated he was 6'4-6'5. He was old, not ancient old but more middle age old. His hair was a gun metal grey, a few years away from whitening. His skin was coarse, partially due to the passage of time but Judy couldn't chalk it up to just that. Could he have been a war vet? She could certainly see him marching through the desert clime during the Persian Gulf War. His figure supported her old soldier theory. He was ridiculously built for an over the hill guy. She couldn't see his chest thanks to his shirt but his arms were like tree trunks. Speaking of his clothes he was dressed in a loose fitting beige shirt and cracked leather sandals. She couldn't see his pants because he was sitting. Overall he was quite the looker 'Some men are like wine,' Judy thought giving him a once over, 'They blossom with age.'

Still she didn't exactly swoon over his looks; she was far too busy trembling at the gaze he was piercing her with. His hands were clapped in front of his face drawing her gaze into his eyes which an earth brown and slightly furrowed in concentration. It wasn't a glare but it wasn't bedroom eyes either. After racking her brain Judy settled uneasily on the notion he was sizing her up. A smarter person might have been plotting their escape, perhaps a break towards the door or a run at the pots in the corner so they could attack the man. Judy just stood there dumbly for a second before dropping her gaze to the dirt floor.

"Are you the one who kidnapped me?" she asked quietly.

"No," the man replied.

Surprised Judy looked up at him again "You'll let me go home then?"

"You can't go home," the man said.

"Why? Are you working for the person who brought me here?"

The man didn't say anything for a bit, "In a way, yes."

He sounded a shade angry when he admitted that but Judy had other things to think about. "So you're going to stop me?"

"Stop you from what?"

"Escaping."

The man shook his head and said nothing. Taking this as permission to flee Judy crept over to the door and opened it. There was no beach outside the door or city or boardwalk or anything urban. Instead she stepped out into a pastoral dream with forests and blue sky and birdsong.

"What," Judy mouthed looking about quizzically. "Where the hell is this?" Had her kidnappers dumped her somewhere else? 'Well. Duh,' Judy thought smacking her head, 'Of course they took me somewhere else, they're kidnappers! That's what they do." Glancing back at the cabin Judy confirmed the man wouldn't be following her outside so she left. She didn't run or anything dramatic like that, it seemed a little silly considering the peaceful scenery. Strolling along the dirt road that lead away from the house Judy headed to the left down the knoll the house sat on. The path went on for about twenty minutes before coming onto a larger nature trail. 'I hope this leads to a freeway,' she thought anxiously as she followed it. It did lead to a road, the weirdest road the woman had ever seen. It wasn't asphalt; it was a brick and mortar affair that could be seen in older sections of cities. Like every other man made thing she had come across it was roughly made, the mortar was cracked and dry while the bricks were asymmetrically laid. It would have been hell on a car's chassis. It was devoid of any vehicles markings leading Judy to guess it was some sort of one lane country road. 'It's quaint,' she thought as she stepped onto it and headed north.

During her trek she thought about where she was. A quick glance around to the side of the road showed her nothing but thick forest. 'Well I think I'm still in New England,' Judy pondered to herself. 'The Midwest is mostly flat and the West Coast doesn't have these sorts of trees. But…that's still a lot of ground to cover.' Her musing was interrupted by the clack of hooves behind her. Moving to one side Judy let the caravan pass before returning to her thoughts. 'Let's see, I could be deeper in Pennsylvania. More to the West though, away from Philly. Does New Jersey have forests like this? Wait, what the hell?" She did a double take. The vehicle heading down the road was a caravan that looked like it had time traveled from the fifteenth century. It was crafted of wood with two brown oxen pulling it forward with a lurching gait. It was covered by a flowing white tarp that looked like it provided shade and little else. At the helm was a mustachioed young man limply holding the reigns with a look of pure boredom tattooed onto his face. Around him were cows, a small herd that numbered somewhere around two dozen. A second young man rode a tired gelding keeping his eagle eyes peeled on the cows.

After Judy remembered to close her gaping mouth she shook herself out of her stupor "E-excuse me," she called out. "Can you help me?" She ran forward to where the guy riding the horse was, "Please I need help!"

"Ask my brother, lady" the man said not taking his eyes off the bovines "Doing a job here."

Scorned, Judy turned her attention to the somnambulant man driving the wagon. "Please help me, I was kidnapped!"

The man jerked up "Huh, whazzat?" Yawning he rubbed his tired eyes "Are we there Charlie?"

"Nah Lester, some gal here is saying she's been kidnapped."

"No kiddin" the man said looking down at Judy, "That true ma'am?"

"Yes, I got away but I don't know where I am" Judy replied "What state am I in?"

"Hysteria from the looks of it" Lester deadpanned. "You aught to calm down and 'splain your situation."

"I was walking the boardwalk in Ocean City when someone pushed a rag in front of my face. I think it was chloroform cause the next minute I-"

"Whoa, whoa there missy, calm yo' tits," Charlie said. "What in tarnation are you talking 'bout? Board walking? City ocean? New jer-what now?"

"Missie how many fingers am holdin' up?" Lester asked placing three fingers into the air.

"Three" Judy replied "Am I even in the United States?" Could her captors put her on a plane and flown her to Australia or something? She dismissed this thought immediately; the men talking to her didn't have foreign accents though.

"Lester, I done reckon she's either hit her head or just plumb bat shit crazy."

"I think it's the later" his brother answered. "Though do you recall that yarn circulating round these parts? Some bandits got themselves to the bright idea to drug young gals from the villages they plunder and pump 'em with so much Grima Tears so they get so shitfaced they can't tell hens from roosters. Then they get them to stop caravaners and distract them while they make off with cargo." Both brothers cast a weather eyeball around looking for any sign of hustlers.

"Bandits, Grima-what. I ain't shitfaced, I was kidnapped!" Judy insisted. "Look, why don't you tell me where this is?"

"The middle of nowhere," Charlie replied.

"The middle of nowhere, where?" Judy asked frustratedly.

"The middle of nowhere, here," Lester said. "Listen lass we're heading to Ylisstol, got any family round those parts?"

"Ylisstol?" Judy asked 'Where the hell is that?"

"Thundereeza woman! You really are bat shit crazy" Charlie exclaimed. "Ylisstol's the capital."

A sudden tiredness fell across Judy's shoulders even though she had woken up not a half hour ago. "I…see…?" Her mind began to buzz; thoughts flew through her head like a cage full of butterflies. Disengaging herself from the caravan she began to trek back, her head hanging down. "

Ya'll be careful" Lester shouted at her "Don't go getting kidnapped again!" She didn't acknowledge them. The path wasn't hard to retrace and in no time she was back at the cottage she had woken up on.

She opened the door. The buff man hadn't moved from his seat "Sit down," he instructed her motioning to the chair across from him.

"You were waiting for me," she said quietly not moving from her position leaning on the doorframe. "You knew I would come back."

"This ain't my first rodeo, kid," he said. His voice was a low bass with a hefty chunk of gravel; he didn't speak as much as he growled.

"So you are my kidnapper," she said glaring at him. "Where the hell did you take me?"

"I ain't the one who kidnapped you but feel free to believe whatever you want, won't change things."

"Where the hell am I?" she repeated listlessly, her head hurt like a bitch.

"Sit down," he said.

She shook her head, "I want to stand."

"I said sit your ass down, girl. I don't bite."

Wanting to get the ball rolling Judy sat down then placed her elbows on the table and clasped her hands together. She leant forward so her forehead was supported by her hands and closed her eyes, "Where. The. Hell. Am. I?"

"You play videogames, kid?" he asked making her eyebrow twitch.

"What does that have to do with anything" she asked aggravated.

"Just answer the damn question."

She shuffled in her seat a littl,e "Yeah I do. Don't tell anybody, 'kay?"

"These lips are sealed," the man deadpanned. "Are you a hardcore player or a casual."

She squirmed "Casual…"

"Liar."

"Is it that obvious?" she asked rubbing her face. "I try so hard to hide it too."

"It's a pattern" he explained to her. He held up a hand before she could ask him what he meant by that, "Questions later, first off, do you know the videogame series called Fire Emblem?"

She nodded, "Yeah it's a great tactical series. What does that have to do with anything?"

"You're in Fire Emblem 13," he said then studied her face for a reaction.

She didn't have much of one; she just stared at the table blankly, "That makes sense…they said Ylisstol."

"Here's the basic rundown, feel free to ask me to repeat this a few times. Sometimes it takes a while to set in." The man took a deep breath and leaned back "You were kidnapped by two bastards. Instead of locking you up in their basement or selling you into slavery they…put you into their videogame."

Judy didn't say anything for an hour, she just sat there eyes glazed over. "What?" she asked breaking the long silence. He repeated it and let it sink in. This became a pattern with the time between each request for him to repeat it shortening until only five minutes of silence between each question.

She jerked her head up suddenly, "What the fuck? How the hell can they do that?" It had finally sunk in and the ridiculousness of the situation oozed its way into her brain.

"Don't gotta fucking clue," the man replied with a shrug "They say they got some sort of power that lets 'em shove people in here but who the hell knows. Maybe this some sort of screwed Matrix shit, or a bad trip, or a coma, maybe you're dreaming."

"I don't dream," Judy piped up.

"Cross it off the list then. But ultimately it don't matter, you're fucked either way."

"Alright, how do I get home," Judy asked. "Got a pair of ruby pumps somewhere in this shithole?"

"Hey. I live here," the man said. "Apparently they'll let you out if you beat story mode."

"Gee that's just peachy," Judy exclaimed with mock cheerfulness. "Let's pal around with Chrom and friends while waging three wars in the span of a few years. Never mind that my parents are probably looking for me scared out of their minds. Never mind my happiness. Never mind the fact that I was going to graduate this year!" She was becoming more and more hysterical with each passing second, her voice crescendo into a high pitched quaver. "Oh stars, I'm going to die aren't I? Some pansy ass myrmidon is probably going to gut me like a fish. I don't want to die! What am I going to do?"

"Life's fulla shit kid" the man said, possibly in an attempt to soothe her.

"Shit? Shit? This isn't shit, this is a fucking catastrophe!" Judy screamed. Her breathing rate had been cranked up to the point she was hyperventilating.

The man stood up and walked over to the corner. He knelt down in front of the pots and picked up one of them. He put it in front of her face just in time; Judy proceeded to spew chunks all over the place. Kneeling there, with her head over the despoiled pot Judy gasped like a fish as the reality of her situation crushed her. Wiping her dirty mouth with her sleeve she began to quiver and hiccup. "If you're going to cry do it in the back room," the man said abrasively. "I don't like crybabies."

She was too distraught to heed him so he picked her up by the shoulder and shoved her into the back room. Staggering forward a few feet she made it to the edge of the bed before she fell onto her knees banging them up against the frame of the cot in the process. "Shit," was the last word she got out before being reduced to noisy, nasal sobs. She spent three days in that room. The first was spent crying over herself. It was truly a spectacular pity party with her wondering who she had pissed off enough upstairs to get them to do something like this to her. The second day was going through the stages of grief with hours being used to get her through each one. Acceptance wasn't the last stage though, it was apathy. The third day was spent looking at the far wall listlessly, not really alive but not quite dead. She might have stayed that way too but the man came in the morning of the fourth day.

"Pity party's over, kid," he informed her putting his hands on his waist. "Now either you can lick this or you can give up."

"What's the point?" she asked in a very tired voice. "Bet you anything I can't win."

"Sit up," he instructed her. Languidly she did, her legs dangled off the cot as she looked up at him. Reaching behind his waist, now that he was standing in front of her she could see that he was wearing faded blue pants that were badly frayed and held up by a thick piece of braid rope, and put something in front of her face. It was a large knife that was much too big to be used for cooking. "Life or death, kid," he told her. "You can get up and try or lie down and die. I won't judge you either way." Mute, she took the knife in her hand with her fingers gripped around the metal handle. "Just don't do it on the cot, ok? The blood's difficult to get out." He instructed her before heading back to the first room.

An hour passed and the man reasoned that she had killed herself. He got up but before he could take a step the door opened and Judy stood there. She walked over to the table and plopped the knife down onto the table. It was not stained with blood. "Tried to do it a few times," she croaked. "Couldn't do it, thought it would hurt too much."

He nodded and took the tool off the table. "Poison would have been easier," she said sitting down. "More dignified that way."

"Don't know crap about botany or else I would have offered."

"I can't promise you anything," Judy said staring into his eyes.

"Me neither," the man replied. "Let's get started."

"With what," Judy asked.

"Training," the man replied. "You're going to be fighting in a war. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you don't know shit about fighting."

"How fucked am I?"

"Depends on how much talent you have, you could be a prodigy," the man said. "If you don't got any talent then practice, practice, practice."

She nodded, "What class am I? If I'm a fucking myrmidon you slide that knife back over here. I'm not dealing with that bullshit."

For the first time since they had met the man's face broke into something other than solemnness. He gave a huge belly laugh, a rumbling, manly thing that vibrated the air around them. "You're not as dumb as you look, kid," he said with a smir.k "Here's the first piece of good news I got for you, you ain't some pansy ass myrmidon."

"Thank the stars," she said before raising an arm into the air. "Though I guess I could have figured that out for myself," She wriggled her bare hand in front of his face, "No fingerless gloves."

"You're not half as smart as you think you are," he told her wryly. "Take a look at your robes, kid."

For the first time since she had woken up Judy noticed that her outfit had changed. Instead of a camisole and jeans she was decked out in robes. Standing up she began to strip in front of the man. She took off a small cape, a robe, a small linen shirt, some pants made of a thin loose material, and a sash that held it all together. The robes, sash, and cape were all the same color, bright neon orange. "I'll look like a fruit loop in these," she complained turning to the man. "Can I turn into a different class?"

"Knock yourself ou,t" he said reaching into his shirt. He brought out a small necklace with a blue tab on it. "Mind you, you only got access to one other class."

"Let me take a wild guess," she deadpanned. "Myrmidon."

"Bingobango" the man said with a nod.

"Keep it," she gave a dismissive wave. "There's a difference between looking like a dumbass and being one." She put her clothes back on as best she could; they were more involved than the stuff she usually wore. Once she had fiddled with the sash for a ten minute span she gave up and plopped down into her seat with her clothes ruffled from her manhandling. "So, magic," she said.

"Yep" he stood up and wandered over to the front door. He disappeared outside for a moment before returning with several items. One was a stack of book whose cover was identical to the robes Judy was wearing. The other was a pylon.

Picking up one of the books Judy read the cover aloud. "Fire," she said. "This I get but what's with the road cone?"

"It's not a road cone, it's your hat."

"Stars no," she said thrusting a hand forward. "Come on, I already look like Reese's cup in this junk."

"Well the hat completes the ensemble," the man said plopping it onto her head "See, now you look like a crayon." Reaching down under her chin he tied the two hat straps together so they snugly fit.

"The girls in Fire Emblem 7 and 8 never wore the hat," she hissed.

"Sucks to be you," the man said not giving a damn. "Any questions before we begin?"

"Yeah, who the hell are you," Judy asked scratching her chin; the straps were itchy. "Why are you here."

"I'm the guy who trains the ones they pick," he explained. "They grabbed me when they couldn't get anyone past the fourth chapter."

"So there have been others before me," she commented.

"Come here" he said motioning her over to the door to the back room. On the side of the door facing the adjacent room there were a bunch of lines slashed into it. They were done Roman style with four lines being crossed diagonally by a fifth for easy counting. "5…10…15…20…25…30…35…36, 37," she counted. "Thirty seven people have been here already."

The man didn't say anything. Raising the knife he cut another notch into the door "You're thirty eight," he informed her. "Have to get to one hundred before they'll let me go."

"Harsh," Judy said turning her attention away from the tally. "By the way, what's your name? I'm sick of referring to you as "the soldier" in my mind."

"It's that obvious, huh," he said running a hand through his hair. "What gave it away."

"It was more of a guess really," she replied with a shrug. "You got a…demeanor about you"

"Care to take a guess which part of the army?" he asked.

"Eh, I don't know much about the army," she said with a shrug. "The Marines?"

"Naw, Delta Force."

Judy gave an impressed whistle, "Not really sure what they do but I think they rank up there pretty high."

"My name's Hank," he said. "Let's get cracking." He sat down at the table and took one of the books off the stack. He slid it across the table to where her spot was and motioned for her to sit down.

"Funny, I thought this was going to be more like boot camp," she commented as she popped a squat.

"Do you want it to be boot camp?" Hank asked.

"Nope, just kinda figured you'd be all up in my face screaming at me," Judy replied the relief was evident in her voice. "I swore to myself if I ever got drafted I would break my legs before I went to boot camp."

"Ain't you lucky," he snarled. "Now pay attention." For the next four hours he began to lecture her about the mechanics of magic, the physics that were involved and the necessary requirements in order to successfully cast a spell. Classes were structured like college classes; Hank was the professor and Judy the student. By the end of the first week her head felt numb from trying to wrap her mind around the basics of casting a Fire spell.

"This is stupid," she said one day during their lunch break. "Can't I just use the magic. I'm more of a hands on kinda girl."

"The hell you are," he snarled at her over his beef stew. "Look, kid, this ain't like a car. You can't just know how to do it. You gotta know why you can do it and what's it's made up of. You're more likely to set yourself on fire than anyone else if you half ass it."

Two months passed before she could even get her hands on a spell tome and when she did she found out there was a whole other aspect to casting besides knowing theorems and science. "I have to sing the incantation?" she exclaimed "What is this, choir?"

"You don't have any choral experience, kid?" Hank asked. "They usually align your class with something your already good at."

"I took choir in high school," Judy admitted. "We went to nationals but I'm not good enough for soloes."

"That's fine, only the really talented mages fight solo; most likely you'll be in a study of mages all casting together. Like choir, but with fireballs." That was a very accurate metaphor; all the sheets inside a Fire Tome were music sheets with lines of notes of notes scrawled into the notation.

"I'm guessing knowing how to read sheet music is a requirement for being a mage?"

"Bingobango, kid," the man said. "And know for a little demonstration. 5th page, Fire in E." The guy hummed to himself for a bit, no doubt trying to stabilize his voice into the key, before singing the incantation.

O sorceress

clad in the flames of Hell...

let thy fiery incantation bear its fangs

Judy had been expecting Hank to be tone deaf but he surprised her. He easily hit C2 under C qualifying him to be Basso Profondo, a vocal range Judy had never had the pleasure of hearing. His voice shook her to core while the heat of the flames washed over her skin. Instead of some wimpy fireball a massive plume of flame erupted from the ground, spiraled about in the air, before exploding in the air like a massive firecracker. "That was amazing," Judy breathed. "Can I do that?"

"Hell no," Hank said gruffly. "You'll need years of practice before your that good and maybe not even then. A lot of this magic stuff requires tons of innate talent."

"Do you think I'll be that talented?" Judy asked seriously hoping that she would be.

"Let's see" he said handing the book over to her. She couldn't hit E under C so she settled for the octave above middle C. Her lyric mezzo soprano was passable but it was obvious why she had never been selected to do soloes in choir. The Fire she conjured was pretty sad too. Instead of a plume she crafted a little fireball the size of a potato that trundled forward a bit before arching downward and burning a hole in the grass not five feet away from her.

"We've got a long way to go," Hank said staring down at the embers of her fireball. "Well ya ain't a prodigy but at least you can at least cast magic."

"Thanks," Judy mumbled, she felt disappointed that her attempt was so pitiful.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," he reminded her. "From the top."

That night over dinner they discussed the future. "Man, I had no idea how hard this magic stuff wa,s" she complained massaging her throat. "Do you think I'll be ready for the Shepherds soon?"

"Shepherds," Hank parroted. "What the hell are you talking about, girl?"

"You know, Chrom's group," Judy said. "That's how these things work, right?"

"No, you're an inexperienced mage without a lick of innate talent to bolster your appeal. The Shepards are like the Marines, the best of the best. Why the hell would Chrom accept a rookie like you?"

"Then where the hell am I supposed to go after this?"

Hank looked at her, "You're joining the army, kid. Just like any other greenhorn."


	2. Poor, Unfortunate Souls (Ursula)

Chapter 2: Poor Unfortunate Souls (Ursula)

She was trying to be patient, she really was, but if the person poking her side every few seconds didn't stop heads would roll.

"Lissa, would you knock that off" a male voice said above her.

"I think she's dead, Chrom" a female voice answered him before poking her ribs for the thirty seventh time. She had hoped that by pretending to be dead that they would eventually go away and leave her to her…something. A nap, perhaps? The reason she was lying here eluded her but nonetheless she was not about to converse with these meat sacks.

"Milady that is not a wise idea, you have no idea of the diseases she was carrying before she passed." A second male voice cautioned "Tis a sad thing to see such a young lass die in anonymity but we cannot tarry here."

'Yes, please leave' she thought keeping breath even.

Unfortunately for her the female refused "Ah, c'mon Frederick, this is the first time I've seen a dead body. I want to savor the experience."

"Poking corpses with a stick isn't an experience milady, its desecration."

"Either way she's not dead" someone stuck two fingers on her neck "See, I can feel her pulse."

A second pair of fingers touched her neck "Nay milord you are mistaken milord, no pulse here, merely death. It does not do for Ylissean royalty to stand about flower fields molesting the dead. Come we ride."

"Hey Chrom, if she's not dead do you think she could be sleeping" the female voice said excitedly "Perhaps this is like that story where the princess is awoken by true love's kiss. Pucker up Chrom!"

"Er…uh…I think we should go with Frederick and leave this lady to her dreams."

"Aw I knew it, look your blushing! You're still a kissing virgin aren't you?"

"K-k-kissing virgin? That's ridiculous. Why are dogging me Lissa?"

"Cause it's my job as your little sister. I'm looking out for you. No girl wants a guy who'll slurp all over her face when they have their first kiss."

"B-but with a cadaver?"

"Well where else are you going to get the practice?"

There was a pause here. "W-well maybe a little kiss."

"Chrom and a cadaver sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Lissa, you were the one who wants me to do this."

"Hehehehehehe, you're blushing."

More silence "Well are you going to do this or not? Frederick is giving us the stink eye."

"Don't rush me." More silence then the damp, smelly stench of unwashed teeth invading her nostrils.

'Oh hell no' she thought placing a hand up and catching the kisser's mouth not two inches from hers. The woman opened her eyes "Back off." She thrust the man's head back from hers then felt something heavy smack her in the middle.

"Milord, Milady are you well" an older man asked as he pressed the butt of his lance tighter against her stomach "And you, field wench, how dare you lay a hand on-"

"Peace, peace Frederick" the man said placing an arm on his attendant's shoulder "I am the one who drew too close. Ease your lance." He pushed the weapon off her tummy and offered a hand. "Can you stand?" he asked the light shining off his baby blue eyes. Ignoring his extended hand she pushed herself off the ground.

"Do you make it a habit to prod and molest every woman you come across or is today a special occasion" she grouched.

The man colored "Forgive me milady, I only meant to jest." He then appraised her "Mayhap you can tell me why you were found it fit to nap here upon the ground?"

Pursing her lips the mystery woman looked about, what met her eyes were miles of flowers, three meat sacks, and three horses. 'Where am I?" she thought to herself. She searched her soul and came up with a lot of nothing. For some reasons convenient things like why and when as well as her entire memory were missing. 'Odd' she thought 'Is this a common for meat sacks to experience?'

"Is milady well?" the man asked ignoring the dismissive grunt Frederick sounded from behind him.

"Well enough, thank you" she replied "And what I do with my time is my business alone." With that she pushed him back and walked between him and Frederick towards the road. She hoped that after a time her memories would return but for now she was content to wander. Naturally fate insured she would not do so alone. The clacking of hooves caught up to her as she walked the dirt path.

"Might you give me your name?" the blue haired man asked "Mine is –"

"I already know your name Chrom" she bit back at him. That remark got her tackled onto the ground by the attendant

"I knew it. You can't be trusted you serpentine wench!" he turned to his liege lord "Milord, beware, she may not be alone."

"You are crushing my lungs" she complained trying to wriggle out of the knight's body slam "Let me go."

"How do you know my name" Chrom asked leaning down so his face was in front of hers "I would have remembered someone like you if we had met previously."

"I know not how I came to know your name" she said "All I did was look upon you and it was born to me by an invisible force."

"A likely story" Frederick shouted trying to grab his spear without easing up on the mystery woman "Perhaps the fey folk might whisper you mine as well?"

"Enough Frederick the Wary, jumping at phantoms is most unsightly for a knight as is squishing a lady."

"Ha, Frederick the Wary" the girl commented as she strolled up next to them "More like Frederick the Never-To-Be-Wed. Were Maribelle here she would simply faint from such boorish behavior."

"Indeed Sir Frederick, if you wish to consummate your whirlwind love with this lady might I suggest doffing your clothes at least." Chrom quipped.

"And allow my brother to watch good sir; he is in dire need of seeing the art for himself." Lissa laughed drawing a snarl from her brother. Reluctantly Frederick picked himself off of the mystery woman allowing her to regain her footing but not her dignity.

"All I wish is to walk in peace, is such a request truly beyond the ken of you meat sacks" the mystery woman asked drawing a smile from Chrom.

"If the lady gives me her name I might be persuaded to be on my way."

Glowering at him the woman withdrew the name from her subconscious like a fisherman pulls his prey from water. "I am Ursula"

Frederick pointed his spear at her again "A common name for witches and sirens."

"Peace, for no witch could claim such a beautiful countenance." Chrom said pushing away the weapon. "Where might you be heading Ursula?"

"I believe you consented that if I were to give you my name you would give me my privacy."

"I said I "might" allow you to wander these poorly lit woods alone and without proper escort" Chrom said with a smile "But as a gentleman it is my duty to escort you to safety. Come, we ride." He got back on his horse and offered a hand to Ursula.

"Do I have any say in the matter" she asked crossly.

"No" the blue haired man replied cheerfully. She reluctantly reached for his hand but a second came out of nowhere and snatched it away.

"Milord, if you insist on this most dangerous course of action-"

"And I do"

"-then you will permit me to be the one to risk my life to cart this assassin along with us."

"Jealous" Lissa teased. Chrom opened his mouth to protest but then he saw the look on Frederick's face, it was one that would brook no argument.

Withering Chrom waved a dismissive hand, "Very well, just keep your hands to yourself."

"Boooooooring" Lissa chimed "Must you put a damper on every fun situation that arises? It'll take most of the morning and a good chunk of the afternoon till we hit civilization again."

"And it would be a blessing to be accompanied for the majority of that journey in peace." Frederick said. There were groans from Lissa but she chose not to provoke her attendant. While they trudged to Southtown, Ursula reflected upon her situation at hand.

'Napping in a flower field with no recollection of who I am but the name of a total stranger comes easily enough. Was this a force of man or of nature?'

As the day worn on Ursula's memory abyss was not the only thing that began to bother her. For some reason she began to go weaker and weaker with each passing hour until she fell off Frederick's horse.

"Milady are you alright" Chrom asked turning his horse around.

"Stay back Milord, she looks unwell" Frederick cautioned cutting Chrom off "I will attend to her so you do not have expose yourself to whatever disease she is carrying." Ursula wanted to retort but she found herself unable to do so. The world was churning in front of her like a font of water silencing her tongue.

"Stars, she's sweating buckets" Chrom cursed "What ailment is this? Poison?"

"Did milady accidentally prick herself with the very dagger she meant for milord" Frederick asked.

"Frederick must you accuse her at every turn of deceit " Chrom asked incredulously "If you are so assured of her guilt why don't you check her robes for a dagger." His attendant did just that but failed to find anything suspicious.

"Alright, I will grant her a state of innocence; for now" he said before picking her up "We should have a surgeon examine her post haste." With Southtown not an hour's travel ahead the trio decided to push their horses into a controlled gallop. Within a half hour they were at the gates of Southtown, the largest city in the south of Ylisse. The marble buildings, a common building material in Ylisse, intermingles with sparkling fonts of water that shot up into the air in an indulgent fashion. But the Sheppards had no time for sightseeing. Quickly appraising where they might find a surgeon they brought her post haste to the best one in the town.

The surgeon was a sprightly young man with a belt lined with medicinal tools such as knives, saws, and picks. "What can I help you with" he asked with a great big smile.

"My friend here is sick" Chrom said pointing to Ursula "She suddenly came down with a pox while we were riding." Behind him Frederick frowned, his liege lord was too trusting.

"Oh my, that sounds bad" the surgeon said grabbing a few knives from his belt "Let me examine her." Placing her on a bloodstained table the surgeon placed a hand on her sweat slicked forehead. "Dear Naga, she's burning up" the surgeon exclaimed "Before we try something invasive let me see if the apothecary has a better diagnosis." The lady in question was young gal who had the same sunny personality as her male counterpart.

"Mmmm, could be snake poison" she said aloud "The striped rattler's bite has the same symptoms. When did begin to exert these symptoms?

"She fell off my horse about an hour ago" Frederick explained "However the only opportunity for her to get bitten by a snake would have been where we picked her up. Otherwise we were riding for the rest of the time with no way for her to get bitten."

"Odd, there aren't many poisons that take that long to manifest" the apothecary remarked stroking her chin "That means it's most likely viral."

On cue the pair of healers reached into their pockets and extracted masks. "I'm afraid we'll have to ask you to leave" the surgeon chimed "This is now a quarantine zone." They pushed the trio out onto the street "We'll contact you again when it's safe for you to come and visit. How long will you be in town?"

"Not long" Frederick said cutting off Chrom "We have business in the capitol."

"We'll need payment in advance if you wish to leave her in our care" the apothecary said.

"Very well" Chrom said. He returned to the outer wall where they had left their horses and withdrew a large leather bag. "I imagine this will suffice" he said placing the bag into the surgeon's arms. He waited for them to carefully count each piece of gold; bedside manner aside it was clear these doctors were not interested in charity work.

"This is a little too much for our fee" the surgeon remarked closing the bag "Would you like the change?"

"Consider it room and board, we might not be able to get back right away so please give her shelter till we return." Chrom said.

"Very good, sir" the pair said in unison "Have a nice day." They returned to their work leaving Lissa grinning at Chrom.

"Seriously big bro, it won't do you any good if you are all chivalrous at the ladies while their unconscious."

"I'm being a good prince, Lissa" he argued back "Besides what else were we going to use that money for."

"Food, shelter, armaments" Frederick griped "That was good taxpayer money you just wasted on one person."

"My sister would have done the same thing" Chrom pointed out "The people should come first. We are close to Ylisstol anyway; I don't think we need to hoard our money."

Frederick sighed "I have a small pile of gold stashed in my saddlebag; we shall use it to repair our armor and buy milady a new staff. I trust those purchases are alright, milord."

"Of course Frederick, you always have a plan B don't you?"

"It's my job, milord" Frederick said sardonically "Milady, will you accompany?"

"Ehhh, there's nothing else to do" she groaned stepping next to Frederick. "Take care of the horses will you big bro?"

"Meet back here in three hours, milord. We need to leave so we'll have enough daylight to pitch camp."

"Can't we stay here for the night" Lissa whined "I hate camping out."

"That was the plan milady but then milord saw it fit to spend all our money on his mysterious Dulcinea."

"For the love of Naga Chrom!" Lissa said exasperatedly "I wouldn't have agreed to healing her if I had known that."

In her frustration she kicked Chrom in the shins. "How very lady like" he grunted as he massaged his leg "You kick like a horse."

"Urgh" Lissa groaned before grabbing a smirking Frederick and dragging him towards the market place.

Two hours passed uneventfully allowing everyone to enjoy the calm, early summer sunlight. As he groomed and watered the horses Chrom's thoughts centered mainly among the mysterious Ursula. In the sanctuary of his own mind he was free to admit how charming he found her. The whole situation came from one of those trashy novels Emmeryn hid under her mattress. A mysterious girl meets a handsome guy, fluff happens, and then the fun stuff. Try as he might Chrom couldn't help but focus on the potential fun stuff. It was strange, he had always had an eye for the girls but the beauties who surrounded him where either stuffy noble women or self sufficient soldiers. Ursula was different, she exuded an air he found quite appealing. It was irrational but he wanted to tag along with them for a bit longer. Perhaps there was some way to persuade her to join the Shepherds, even if she had no fighting skills he could employ her as a quartermaster or something. As he was finishing up he caught sight of something that made him pause. A small group of villagers had gathered near the gate to the city. They whispered to each other in an agitated manner that drew Crom closer. "What is the matter" asked as he drew close to them.

"There have been a strange band of men roving our city" one man explained "We have never seen them before but Jimmy here says he heard them talk. They've got Plegian accents." Frowning Chrom thought back upon the battles he had waged in recent months against a sudden up shot of bandits who had appeared with no explanation. They held no territory and seemed to disappear back to the west towards Plegia whenever they pillaged a town.

"Please, stay here" he warned them checking to make sure Falchion was at his side "I will check them out and make sure they aren't up to any good."

Jogging into the city he asked several passerby villagers about a strange band of shiftless men. They were well known among the gossipy villagers, the group had been seen gravitating towards the town's church. Taking off at a run Chrom headed for the main plaza then hung a right. The pristine church spire could be seen jutting into the sky from a distance. Beneath it was a group of men who were the very definition of shiftless. Their attire was made up of fur, bone paraphernalia, and tribal tattoos. Frowning Chrom hailed them from a few feet away.

"Pray tell why do you gather around the church? Have you come to worship Naga?" A laugh rippled through the men.

"Aye sir, can't you tell by the cut of our pants and the piousness gleaming in our eyes" one man, possibly a leader, called back.

"Odd, considering the high holy day is still three days away" Chrom replied gripping the pommel of Falchion "You know it is wrong to lie in the holy presence of Naga."

"You wound us with your words good sir" the leader replied "We merely sought to tithe dear Naga for the bounty she has laid out before us."

"Pray what bounty is that" Chrom asked puzzled.

"Why the bounty of this town, ripe and ready to be plucked. We shall pay our tithes to blessed Naga in the blood of all who oppose us in our harvest." The men revealed the axes they had skillfully hidden within their fur capes. "Kill all the men and grab the women and children, we sell the ugly ones into slavery."

Drawing his sword Chrom stepped forward "Over my dead body."

"That can be arranged" the leader shouted "Barry, you and your men deal with the boy. The rest of you grab whatever ain't hammered down." Most of the men scattered to the four winds tearing down the avenues with whoops and war cries. Four remained smirking with Chrom as they rubbed their axes

"You ain't too bright are ya kid?" Ignoring the taunt Chrom settled into his sword stance "Aw look at the little hero, thinks he can save the town." All four of the charged at him, they kept low to the ground then split off as Chrom swiped at them. With battle cry one of them stepped forward looking for an opening in Chrom's guard. The two circled each other until Chrom grew bored with the jockeying for the upper hand and lashed out with a horizontal slice of his sword. It clanged off the bandit's raised ax sending Chrom's sword hand off to the side. The prince backstepped as the bandit lunged forward, his ax bit into his breast plate and knocked the wind out of him. Staggering back Chrom gave a quick check for blood, there was none. He sidestepped the next floor then drove the tip of his blade into the bandit's neck. Blood flowed down his neck like a river making the bandit panic and forget about Chrom as he grabbed the wound with his free hand.

"Yah!" Chrom yelled slicing the man's head off with a clean blow. Swiping his sword through Chrom checked his surroundings for the other bandits and found he had been drawn into a trap. The other three had surrounded him as he fought the first one putting him into a dire situation. Rushing forward Chrom charged one of the men hoping to break out of the circle but the bandit guessed at his aims. Staying on the defensive the man shuffled from side to side blocking Chrom's path while using his ax to fend off the plethora of stabs and slashes the prince launched at him. Subconsciously Chrom could hear the other two rushing from behind him seeking to bury their weapons into his exposed back which amped up the tempo of his attacks. By the time a lucky parry opened the bandit's guard wide enough for Chrom to end him it was too late, he turned around with Falchion upraised hoping to Naga his blind guard would work miracles.

"Guh" one of the bandits screamed and something warm sprayed onto the prince's face. Opening his eyes he watched as one of the bandit's fell to the ground followed by the other on. They had died thanks to grievous spear wounds to their necks.

"Milord, are you unharmed" Frederick asked easing his guard "What in the world is going on?"

"Thank you for your aid Frederick" Chrom replied "Bandits have seen fit to attack the town. We must fend them off."

"Well duh, we're Shepherds" Lissa said "But where exactly are the bandits. It's wasn't just these four, right?"

Chrom looked about the square; it was desolate of any bandits. "Stars, they must be ransacking town by now" he said looking about. "Frederick take the left and take Lissa with you. I'll head south towards the gate."

"I must refuse milord" Frederick said "I nearly lost you once, I shall not risk it again. We work together."

"But the townspeople will be in danger if we do not hurry" Chrom protested.

"My knightly vows explicitly bade me to guard your life and I intend to see them through" Frederick replied.

"Frederick I, the prince of Ylisse, command you to obey orders" his prince said.

"Nice try but I refuse" the knight replied hoisting his lance onto his shoulders "Shall we?" Sighing in frustration Chrom trudged forward with Frederick and Lissa right behind him.

* * *

"Hmmm, it's not the plague, or smallpox, or scarlet fever" the surgeon said "Could it be Clingman's illness?"

"Possibly, that does include sweating but the defining mark is the dilated pupils" the apothecary commented "Let's see." She pried Ursula's right eye open "Hmmm, this one looks ok to me."

"Shall we be thorough?" the surgeon asked pointing to the right eye which was covered by a heavy swoop of blond hair.

"He's paying us a hefty fee, might as well" the apothecary admitted brushing back the sweat drenched bangs "Let's see here…" She screamed, long and loud, while she stumbled back from her patient.

"What, what" the surgeon asked. She pointed to the grisly thing which earned a scream from the surgeon as well "Sweet mother of Naga."

"What the hell is that" apothecary asked drawing closer.

"What else could it be" the surgeon replied. "Should we fetch the priest?"

"Maybe not" the apothecary murmured stroking her chin.

"What do you mean no? We need an exorcist here" the surgeon yelled.

"Hang on a bloody moment" his companion yelled back "I think we can sell that."

"What?"

"Here me out, I know a guy, who knows a guy who knows someone in the black market trade. You know how the emperors of the Valmese continent look for an elixir of youth?"

"What the hell does that have to do with anything" the surgeon asked "I've never heard of that being used to make life elixirs."

"Idiot, there is no such thing as an eternal life elixir" the apothecary said smacking him in the head "we can sell these as ingredients for one of those fake potions and get an ass load of money for them. We can be filthy stinking rich."

"I like rich" surgeon admitted "So we just pry them out then?" He grabbed a knife and a pair of pliers from his belt "Alright, this will hurt quite a bit but who gives a crap, we'll be rich." He leaned forward ready to stab her when she suddenly opened her eyes.

"You'll do" she rasped and grabbed his hand.

"What are you doing" he asked trying to shake her iron grasp. Suddenly the pair of them were enveloped in a bluish purple glow with waves that spread out from the surgeon and into Ursula. "Stop, stop it" the man screamed as he began to spasm "That hurts, oh stars, it hurts." He gasped like a fish as the light intensified. His skin began to wrinkle as his hair turned bone white; it looked like she had sucked all the moisture out of his body. With one final yank she released him; he staggered for a moment before dissipated into dust.

"Oh Naga, oh Naga" the woman screamed "What did you do?"

"This" Ursula growled lunging forward and draining the woman as well. Sighing Ursula ran a hand through her using her swoop to hide the thing "Much better" she moaned in relief. The fever had dissipated for some odd reason leaving her as healthy as she had been when Chrom and his merry band picked her up. The flow of energy had also jarred her memory giving her access to some of information she had lost. Looking down at the piles of dust Ursula mused over what had happened "That was quintessence" she remarked quietly to herself "The life force of people."

It had somehow strengthened her, against what she wasn't sure but she knew it was necessary to keep harvesting it on occasion. The other piece of information was more relevant to her identity. "Grima…I am Grima" she whispered to herself with a smile slashing its way across her face. "I am superior." She lifted her hands to blast the roof apart with magic but instead of a blast of rotted, dark magic smashing it to debris nothing happened. Growling she thrusted her hands up several more times as she tried to summon her fell power only for it to fail each time. "What curse limits me" she snarled glancing down at her hands "Do I need more quintessence?"

A shuffling of feet caught her attention "Open up you lot, you're getting robbed" someone yelled. Stalking forward Ursula peeked out the window; a man was firing lightning bolts a family of five. After killing them all he began to pull apart the house looking for anything of worth. "Garbage, garbage, garbage" he murmured to himself as he kicked over the corpse a small child in order to get into the next room "Aha, jackpot, lucky me" he crowed triumphantly. He pulled a small, gold, chain necklace that had been stashed inside a wooden chest.

Something fell to the ground behind him causing him to pivot "Who the hell-glurk!" Ursula shot forward and sent her hand down his mouth stopping him from casting a spell. With a grunt she pulled the quintessence from his body.

"Will this suffice?" she asked herself. Another attempt to use her power failed miserably making her frown "Dammit, it seems like I'll need millions more of these to return to my former glory." She mused over her predicament, harvesting that amount of quintessence was no easy feat. Wanton destruction was not the answer either, if she was to simply rampage about seeking quintessence the meat sacks and their armies would no doubt try to stop her. Grima the fell dragon was superior to all, invincible in its glory and terror, Ursula the human, not so much. The answer was simple; she merely had to find the perfect opportunity to draw a ton of the stuff in one go. It would empower her enough to oppose the meat sacks while collecting more. The problem was in the procurement, such a mass would be hard to find. Until then she was vulnerable, mortal even. Guards would be required until the opportunity could present itself but where would she obtain them?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the shuffling of feet running down the alley way in front of the house. On instinct she crept up to the door intent on pouncing on the poor meat sack and adding to her collection. As she waited her head began to prickle painfully "What…is this?" she asked as it all was revealed before her. The walls fell away showing her that the person racing down the alleyway. It wasn't a bandit, it was that idiot Chrom with his sword drawn. Above him an archer was drawing a bead on him from his position on the roof, if nothing was done in 9.8 seconds he would die. On a whim Ursula scooped up the Thunder tome the mage had been wielding before hand and stepped out into the alleyway.

**He who strikes like lightning**

**Let thunder roar**

**From thy fingertips**

**The words of Ruquion of the Heavens**

A flash of lightning ripped past Chrom, arched upward, and struck the archer in the chest blowing a hole through his chest. On reflex the prince hit dirt anticipating a second bolt while the corpse dropped to the street with a thud. "Get up" Ursula commanded "What is going on?"

"Ursula? Thank Naga I've found you" Chrom said jumping up onto his feet "Bandits have attacked the town." He noted the Thunder Tome in her hand "Were you the one who threw that lightning bolt?"

She pointed behind him at the fallen archer, "Saved your life."

"Thank you" Chrom said "I have a request, these bandits have scattered over the city. If you could help us I'd be really grateful."

Ursula frowned; meat sacks in danger didn't really bring out the altruism within her draconic heart. Seeing her reluctance Chrom tacked on, "Plus I would be in your debt." Platitudes were worthless to her but having someone in debt to her could be beneficial.

"Very well" Ursula said "Follow me."

Chrom quirked an eyebrow as she dashed back the way he had come but before he could raise an objection she disappeared around the corner. He followed her as she raced down alleyways and over bridges without stopping to check her surroundings. 'It's almost like she lived her before' Chrom thought to himself. Towards the west gate they bumped into Frederick and Lissa who had just dispatched a pair of brigands.

"Milord!...and Lady Ursula…what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you" Ursula said pivoting around "Their leader is at the square, we need to head there."

"Hold Ursula, how do you know that" Chrom asked.

She shrugged "So you want to stand around and ask questions or do you want to defend the town?"

"Your foresight aside" Frederick interrupted "There are still bandits scattered throughout the town. If we don't do something about the crowd they'll tear down the town."

"Their main target is the holy statue in the church" Ursula explained "The bandit leader will call them back if we were to try and stop him. We'll kill them all in one swoop."

Chrom started to say something but Fredrick grabbed his shoulder "We'll question her later milord; first let's see if her insight is accurate."

Nodding the prince cracked his knuckles "We'll follow you lead then Ursula." The quartet ran back to the church square just in time to see the bandits duck inside the chapel.

Pausing Ursula spread the future before her. 'Let's see, if everyone attacks then the bandit leader will use a firecracker to summon back his horde. And if that happens…' The phantasms gathered before like a facsimile, within it she could see them winning but Chrom would die in the process. 'Inefficient' she thought returning to the first move 'Perhaps if we spread out our forces a bit.' Leaving Chrom to fight the bandit crowd she placed herself to the left along the main thoroughfare that led to the church square, if the bandits were going to assist their leader many of them would have to come down that road to get to the church. 'Yes, an ambush here' she thought marking a pace along the rooftops 'And place Frederick here to dispatch these meat sacks. Let's try this again.' The future played out again but with much more satisfactory results. Chrom could handle the crowd at the church with Lissa supporting him and the bandits fell like wheat to her and Frederick.

"Here's the plan" Ursula said using bits of broken off branches from a nearby shrub to demonstrate her plan.

"I don't like leaving milord alone" Frederick argued "I'd prefer to have him in my sight at all times."

"Inefficient" Ursula replied "Without you stopping the flow of reinforcements we risk being overwhelmed by their numbers. This plan will work."

"Believe in me Frederick" Chrom said placing his hand on his knight's shoulder "We must stop them before the townspeople suffer anymore."

"Yeah, besides I'll be there with him" Lissa exclaimed "I'll make sure Big Bro doesn't do anything boneheaded."

"That's not very assuring" Frederick mumbled.

"Can you meat sacks stop jawing and get into positions" Ursula sniped. They all nodded in agreement and Ursula took off to the left. A row of houses lined the street giving her the perfect position to cast from. Jumping up she grabbed onto a ledge and shimmied her way up onto the roof. The rustic red tile was smooth but thanks to the lack of rain in the past month Ursula had enough traction to maneuver around easily enough. She walked down to the edge of the street; it was connected to one of the many bridges of Southtown. This would be the ones the bandits would cross when their leader summoned them. Sidling up a chimney she squashed down low enough to be invisible to anyone crossing the bridge and waited for the signal. Ten minutes later a shimmery flare exploded above the rooftop with a bang. Peeking behind the chimney Ursula waited for her prey cracking open her Thunder tome in the meantime.

Just as she had foreseen the minions came rushing forward to assist their leader. As they crossed the bridge Ursula cast her spell. A black cloud formed overhead and drifted up the street raining down a flurry of lightning bolts upon their heads. With each strike another bandit fell to the ground convulsing for a bit before his heart stopped leaving the corpse there for others to trip over in their haste to escape. By the time she was through the street was covered with dead bodies that exuded a rotten smelling smoke. Closing her Thunder Tome with a snap Ursula clambered off the roof and headed back to the church. Chrom was mopping up the final bandit with ease, the statue they had tried to pilfer from the church was off to the side, and Frederick was checking up on Lissa who was talking to the town mayor.

"Thundereeza! I can't tell you how grateful we are you've stopped them" the mayor said shaking Frederick's hand "The townspeople scrimped and saved to afford that statue. It brings us a sense of pride when hard times befall us." It was easy to see why t had caught the bandit's attention. The icon of holy Naga was made of pure gold with the halo surrounding her body encrusted with diamonds. Clearly these people took their religion quite seriously.

"I am glad we could be of service" Frederick said.

"Please, do us the honor of staying her for the night" the mayor said "The lodging will be free and I know the townspeople would want to feast in your honor."

"Thank you for the offer, kind sir" the knight said "But we must be on our way post haste."

"What?" Lissa exclaimed "The hell we are! C'mon Frederick, we've been marching for weeks. Would it kill you to let us sleep in a real bed tonight?"

"I'm sorry milady bit we must get back to the capital. The increase in bandit attacks has me worried. The Exalt must be notified at once."

"Argh" Lissa gorled but she knew he was right "I hate you."

"Is something the matter" Chrom asked as he approached them.

"Nothing at all milord" Chrom looked past Frederick to Lissa but she merely crossed her arms and hrumphed in disagreement. "We should depart soon milord" Frederick piped up "The sun will be setting soon and I do not wish to pitch camp in the dead of night."

"Shall we be off then?" Chrom asked.

"I guess this is where we part ways" Ursula remarked turning about "Farewell."

"Forgive me milady but I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that" Frederick said grabbing her shoulder "I have many questions for you. How did you recover so fast? How did you know the bandit leader had a fire cracker for just such a situation? How do you know how to cast Thunder?"

"So many questions" Ursula remarked sardonically "But I shall give you no answers. Good day." With one quick motion Frederick drew her close and sent his fist deep into her stomach. She gave a hard gasp before the eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped forward into his arms as she passed out.

"Frederick" Chrom yelled "Why did you do that."

"I have my suspicions milord" was all the knight said hoisting the woman into his arms.

"Frederick the Wary, more like Frederick the Paranoid" Chrom growled as they headed for the horses.


	3. Sully Explains it All (Ursula)

The Gaiden Chapters 3: Sully Explains it All (Ursula)

"Urf" Ursula groaned as she came around, "My…stomach."

"Ah, you're awake" Fredrick remarked, "I trust your sleep was a peaceful one?" Snarling at him Ursula reached for the Thunder tome in her robes only to come away with air. "I've decided to hold onto this for now" the knight said hoisting the book into the air before tucking it into his armor "I shall return it later."

"How much later" Ursula growled.

This earned her a shrug from the knight "I cannot say, perhaps never." Smiling to himself he bent down to stroke the embers of a dying fire, night had fallen while she had been out.

"May I ask where we are, or is that classified?"

"Two days from Southtown milady, you are quite the sound sleeper. We rendezvoused with our scout and are heading back towards the capitol."

Ursula looked about "Where are the other two meat sacks?"

"I am not sure; Milord and Milady wandered off somewhere together."

"You're not worried about them? I thought you'd have a coronary if they so much relieved themselves by their lonesome."

Frederick smiled at her "I understand your irritation Lady Ursula and I am not sorry about knocking you out. And for your information Milord and Milady are quite capable of taking care of themselves."

There was a rustling of the bushes near the camp and two figures stepped into the dying camp fire's light. "Commander Frederick, I've returned with the firewood as requested." The first figure was a mannish girl with cropped red hair and arms laden with wooden shards. "Sorry about the delay but Ruffles over here slowed me down." With a huff she dumped her load near the fire then turned to berate her companion. "C'mon ya big, powdered up, puffball, shake a leg. We're not getting any younger ya know."

There was a squeak as the second figure staggered closer "M-Milady please forgive me. My arms were made for holding the beauties of the world such as yourself. Not for lugging such odious burdens." The man was oddly well kept for someone who had hiked through the woods and seemed strained to even bring the ax he was dragging behind him a foot further.

"For the love of Naga" the girl sighed stepping over to help him "Why did I bring you along again?"

"Because Milady saved me from a most foul fate" the man jumped in suddenly perky "Och, I will never forget the sight of your marvelous chest as you body slammed the brigand leader harassing yours truly."

As he proceeded with the story both knights ignored him and the red one noticed that Ursula was up. "Hey look at that, sleeping beauty awakes" she said stepping over and proffering a hand "The name's Sully." Ursula ignored the gesture; she wasn't feeling very friendly towards meat sacks at the moment. "Ain't you a peach" Sully remarked coolly "Hey, Ruffles, come over here and introduce yourself. Maybe you'll have better luck than me."

"Oh," the man said like a dog who had just glimpsed a bone "Oh my stars!" He raced over to Ursula and slid onto his knees "Milady, your dark beauty blots out the moon itself and the stars weep bitter tears for they cannot help to dazzle like you do. Please, marry me and bear my offspring and I'll will make you the happiest woman in the world."

"No" Ursula replied.

"Och, you wound me" the man said placing a hand over his breast "But worry not milady, this Virion shall never stop in his pursuit for your dainty hand." He grabbed her hand; she jerked it back and whacked him in the face.

"Hahahahaha, I think I like you, kid" Sully remarked from her place from across the fireplace.

"Och, this Virion be surrounded by lovely hellcats with a taste for flesh" he moaned rubbing his face "Will no lovely lady except these tender feelings welling up inside this Virion's noble breast?"

"Care for some chow Lady Ursula" Frederick asked lifting a wad of ragged meat in his hands "You must be famished after your…'rest'." Ursula opened her mouth to refuse but then a mysterious noise emanated from her stomach. "I'll take that as a yes then" Frederick said walking over and pushing the meat into her hands "Bon appetite."

Looking down at the foodstuff tried to remember how meat sacks did this. As Grima she feasted primarily on quintessence and the despair of others so physical consumption was something of a mystery to her. The sound emanated from her stomach again and brought with it a mysterious ache from the pit of her stomach. The other meat sacks, in their foolishness, had stopped what they were doing to put their undivided attention on Ursula providing no example as to how this was done. Panicking over the thought of her true identity being ferreted out Ursula walked over and handed the meat chunk back to Frederick. "I'm not…interested" she said flatly. Her stomach moaned again.

"Forgive me milady but this is all we have at the moment." Frederick said handing it back "We can't have you keeling over from hunger while we march, so eat up."

Once again all eyes were on her so Ursula was forced to try and puzzle out how meat sacks did this. The pain and noises were emanating from her stomach so logically this meat was supposed to go down there. Turning around so that the meat sacks were given a glimpse of her back Ursula lifted her shirt and found a small hole right where the noises were coming from. But it was too small. There was no way for her to press the entire thing into it.

Assuming she was stalling for time Sully called out "Just bite into it in one. The taste doesn't linger so much that way."

'Bite' Ursula thought triumphantly 'I know what that is. So I do this?' Placing the meat chunk up against her mouth Ursula ripped a shred from it with her teeth. After gumming it a few times she swallowed it and ran into trouble. Instead of comfort, her wind pipe clogged up making her bend over and gasp for breath like a fish out of water.

"Stars, she's choking!" Virion exclaimed. Ever the dutiful servant Frederick ran forward, threw his arms around her waist, and started pumping. With a lovely hacking sound Ursula spat up the slimy meat chunk. "Trying not to swallow it down the wrong tube Lady Ursula" Frederick cautioned her with a hint of amusement lacing his voice.

Her pride injured Ursula decided to have another go at it. This time was a success and the dragon incarnate took her first bite of meat sack food. Several more followed until the noises and pains abated. By this time she had managed to scarf down the rest of the bear meat leaving only the bones to pick her teeth with.

"Not bad, meat sack" she sighed in contentment. It wasn't despair, not by a long shot, but it wasn't as reviling as she had imagined. Not that she was about to admit that of course.

"M-milady certainly does have a healthy appetite" Virion commented looking a bit green around his gills. Frederick merely rolled his eyes at the spectacle while Sully snickered.

"Look at that, someone who can stomach the Commander's cooking, never thought I'd see the day."

"You're hardly one to talk" Frederick reprimanded her "I seem to recall a certain breakfast that laid every Shepherd low for days at end."

"Cut a girl some slack" Sully grumbled "We can't all be Sumia."

While the meat sacks argued amongst themselves Ursula leaned back, suddenly that meat wasn't sitting so well in her stomach. A nasty headache had made its presence known in her head and suddenly she began to feel uncomfortably hot.

'Not this again' she thought placing a hand against her forehead. Her pains were quickly noticed by the others.

"Hot damn what's up with you?" Sully asked placing a hand on Ursula's head "You're burning up!"

"Is this the virus again?" Frederick asked rifling through his supplies "You Ladyship sure is susceptible to diseases."

"Fear not milady, allow my body to calm your fever" Virion exclaimed crushing Ursula in a hug, until she threw up all that bear meat on him. The world was spinning once again but instead of falling into the sweet abyss of unconsciousness a needle of pain injected itself right into her temples. Crying out Ursula tossed Virion out of her arms and curled up. With each second the pain intensified until ten minutes into her fit where it blossomed to such intensity Ursula was sure that her head would peel away.

Arching her back Ursula cried out and opened her eyes, she could see them.

"They're…ahhhh….they're….coming…Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" she screamed rolling around on the ground.

"Coming? What does the Lady-?" Frederick was cut off as a massive quake rocked the area sending everyone into a panic.

"What the hell is going on?" Sully yelped as one of the shocks knocked her onto her ass.

"Damn" Virion swore "Up there!" The stars had turned traitor and came plummeting down from the sky scorching the area around them with whorls of deadly crimson.

"We have to evacuate" Frederick yelled over the din "Where is Milord and Milady?" The two knights rushed into the woods looking for their charges while Virion put on a brave face and hoisted Ursula onto his back.

"Please, please, please" he prayed to Naga "Please don't let her ruin my undershirt. It's Chon'sin silk." Courageously he ignored the potential damage to his clothing and plowed forward into the inferno. Frederick and Sully had drawn their swords and were valiantly attempting to clear a path through the shrubbery screaming for their lieges all the while.

"Stars, we'll never make it" Virion screamed behind them "We must fly at one!"

"Sully, you and Virion leave and take Lady Ursula along with you" Frederick commanded "I shall stay and retrieve Milord and Milady."

"Not alone you won't" Sully replied "You'll be roasted like a ham before you go ten more feet without someone watching your back."

He turned to look at her "Sully, this is a command from your superior officer. This is not open for debate."

Try as she might Sully couldn't argue with him "Good luck Commander" she said dourly pivoting on her heel "Move your ass Virion." They promptly ran back towards their campsite to let Sully grab the necessities. "Get on" she shouted throwing Frederick's horses reigns to him "Watch over her, I'll charge through."

* * *

With some difficulty Virion managed to secure the comatose Ursula to the saddle and climb on at the same time. "I will stick to you like glue, Milady" he said with one arm wrapped around Ursula's waist "To the bowels of hell!"

"And then some" Sully replied kicking the spurs into her horse "Hiyah!" The pair dashed forward into the blazing forest. With expert swings of her sword Sully cut away the smoldering branches in their path leaving them safely to a large open field. Despite no fire being in the vicinity the air seemed to burn thrice as hot.

"Hold" Virion called out "Something's not right here." His instincts were right on the money, not a mile away from them was a large schism. The pain of the earth had opened a canyon filled with languidly flowing lava.

"Stars, I could roast eggs on my saddle bag" Sully cursed as they drew back from it "Good call Virion, without you I might have charged straight into that thing."

"I shall be cashing in those thanks later, Milady" Virion replied "For now we are befuddled, I see no causeway that will allow us to cross to safety safely."

Scanning the land Sully cursed "Stars, you're right! We'll have to go back." They turned around just in time to see the inferno chase them. It was no more than five miles out from them and fast approaching.

"Put her down and help me" Sully commanded grabbing two rocks from her bag. Complying Virion placed Ursula down on the ground and grabbed the fire starter from Sully.

"Pray tell how will more fire save us?"

"Just shut up and help me create a fire circle" Sully commanded him "We'll be dead before I finish my explanation."

The pair started weak fires about them that easily withered the grass around them in a twenty foot circle. And not a moment too soon, the fire had blossomed under the direction of the wind which blew in their direction. Grabbing Ursula, Sully laid her onto the ground and tossed Virion down next to her.

"Stay down" she commanded before falling on top on them protectively. The roar was incredible and for one bladder losing moment Virion was sure they were about to be fried like shrimp cutlets. While his pants didn't make it the trio did. Sully had known what she was talking about; the fact that the grass was withered prevented the fire from engulfing them. Glancing up Virion watched as the flames whorled around them like water, t'would be a sight he would remember for the rest of his life. The fire blazed for two hours without end but with no way to sustain itself with the cliff barricading it from the other side it began to wane. Soaked with all manner of fluids Virion picked himself up after the fire receded back towards the woods.

"My gratitude milady" he said rubbing the blistered skin on his face "Were it not for you the world would have been deprived of this Virion."

"You're welcome" Sully replied accepting the hand he offered "Let's head out." She looked back at the horses which had run away and mostly likely consumed by the fire.

Virion frowned "Shall we not look for Sir Frederick to return with Chrom and Lissa in tow?"

"I appreciate the optimism "Sully said crossing her arms "But right now we need to get out of here. Those were my commander's last orders and I'll be damned if I see them go to the wayside."

Placing Ursula onto her shoulder she trudged forward with Virion following behind her. The fires about the forest smoldered pitifully as they trudged near the canyon in search for a means to cross.

Another hour later Virion placed a hand on Sully's shoulder "Milady, let us take a break. I fear for your constitution if you continue in this endeavor."

"N-no way Ruffles" Sully said, huffing and puffing "I've still got twenty miles left I me." She stumbled a bit forcing Virion to grab her shoulder to steady her.

"If Milady cannot be persuaded to rest then the least this Virion can do is lighten her burden." Prying Ursula off the knight's back he placed her on his shoulders. "Shall we then?" Virion said taking the lead.

Sully smirked "I was wrong about you Ruffles."

"Och, Milady has begun to fall in love with this Virion" the man commented wiggling his eyebrows in her direction.

"Not on your life Ruffles, but I think we can be friends."

"Not for long milady, not for long" Virion replied with a knowing smile. They trudged onward for one more hour; the light of the morning sun had begun to shade the horizon. Fires still burned about the forest but the worst was most definitely over, for the most part. "Fires, earthquakes, and now a canyon that has no bridge, can this night get any worse?" Sully asked aloud.

"I fear it might milady" Virion said solemnly "Someone approaches."

"Who" Sully asked, puzzled "Is it the commander and Milord and Milady?"

"No, it is not Milady" Virion replied.

"Who would be daft enough to wander this hellhole at night?"

"Demons, Milady, demons."

With a quiet moan they emerged from charred forest, their eyes aglow with a deathly red light. "Stars" Sully commented drawing her sword "What the hell are these things?" One of them suddenly lunged forward, axe in hand, looking to violently end them. "Get back" Sully yelled drawing her sword. Stepping to the side she watched the light of the blade glimmer in firelight as it flashed by her opening the thing's guard up wide enough for her to stab it. Instead of blood it leaked a noxious gas that nauseated Sully to her very core. Staggering back she felt something barrel into her back sending her stumbling forward a few feet.

"Beware milady" Virion warned regaining his footing, he had tackled her out of the way of the retaliatory strike. Despite taking a fatal blow the monster roamed about uninjured save for the large crack in his epidermis that was leaking smoke.

"Stars" Sully breathed as she watched it approach them "Stars, no."

Despite the fear that had gripped Sully's gut she did not run, her companions were helpless behind her and to hell if she was going to sacrifice them for a chance to flee with her life. Her sword came up in front of her.

"If I'm going to die then I'll take all of you demons to hell with me" she screamed charging. She feinted, not wanting to bury her blade into something that might be immortal and render her weaponless. The fiend was strong but not terribly smart; it fell for it and buried the blade into the ground. "Hah" Sully yelled as she stuck her sword into its head. They struggled for a bit, the thing fought to raise its head and Sully tried to keep it down along with dodging its axe which flailed about wildly. The release came with a violent twist which must have destroyed something for the monster locked up with rigor mortis before exploding into the ether with nothing more than a plume of smoke. Blinded, Sully wiped her eyes trying to dispel the stinging. The death of one of their own spurred the rest into action. With legion like voices they whooped and hollered as they jumped out of the woods armed with a plethora of weaponry. Virion dashed forward and shoved Sully back once again allowing an arrow to fly between the both of them.

"Naga dammit, my eyes won't stop watering" she yelled as tried to look about "How many?"

"Two dozen" Virion reported trying his best to keep his eyes on all of them at once.

"Such a small force" Sully joked dourly "Barely enough to qualify as a workout."

"A lady to the front, a lady to the back, and all eyes upon this Virion" the man quipped "Could a man as handsome as I ask for a better death?"

"Alas, I shall be delaying such a deserving death." With a flash of silver, Frederick pounced from the left of them impaling the archer with stab. The fiend convulsed for a second before another thrust did it in for good. Jumping away from the plume of incapacitating smoke Fredrick beat back two more before using the shaft of his lance to vault over to their position.

"Commander, you're alive" Sully exclaimed "At least…I'm pretty sure that's you." She rubbed her eyes uselessly "Naga damn these creatures."

"Fear not Sully, tis me" Frederick replied "I commend your tenacity; both of our comrades are unharmed. You did me proud."

"To hell and back for you Commander" Sully replied, gesturing to the landscape "As you can plainly see."

Her cheer was broken as she listened for something "I…I…Forgive my jape, tis not the time. I trust that Milord and Milady were lost."

"You're wrong Sully, tis the time to jape" Frederick replied with a wry smile "Our lord and lady live."

On cue Chrom busted out of the bushes carving a shimmering path through the crowd with his sister hot on his heels. "Thank Naga you all are unharmed" Lissa cried throwing her arms around Sully.

"Let us rejoice later" Frederick chided them "They come."

The horde, numbering fifteen in number, was now agitated. Barbarously they charged forward without any attempt to create a formation. Slashing his blade Chrom leapt forward cutting through three of them like hot butter through a knife. A fourth managed to parry him only to scream as his weapon broke into pieces of metal and wood. A stab laid him low but Chrom had to stagger back as a wisp of purple smoke gushed forward threatening to incapacitate him.

"Stars, this smoke vexes" he cursed as he blocked a swing from the monster's companion.

"Whatever you do, don't let that touch you" Sully yelled. Heeding her Chrom back flipped to avoid the second strike then raced forward keeping low to the ground. His thrust pierced the monster's hide and punched a hole the size of a foot into its chest. The prince dashed past while the body convulsed then exploded but by that time Chrom was clear. Noting a safe way to dispatch them Frederick and Chrom cleaned up the rest of them handily. Soon they were gone with the smoke, lingering like a cloud in the air, unwilling to dissipate fully.

"Let us not tarry here" Chrom said "I do not want to meet these fell creatures again if I can help it."

"A wise decision" a mystery voice informed them "But these creatures will harass you again. Many, many, more times I'm afraid to say."

Chrom turned to look at the new arrival "It's you."

A man stepped into the light "I am heartened to see you safe, sir." "You have my gratitude for earlier" Chrom said "T'were not for you Lissa would breathe no more."

The man said nothing allowing Sully to pipe up "I cannot see, is it friend or foe?"

"A friend" the mystery man said assuring the agitated knight.

"Sully, Virion, this is…a…"

"Marth, good sir" the mystery man replied introducing himself.

"Spelled like the ancient hero king's no doubt" Frederick snarked. "Why do wear a mask, good sir?"

"Sir?" Virion said with a smirk "I doth believe the 'sir' before us is a lady."

"Y-you are mistaken milord" the stranger replied, slightly flustered "I am a man."

"The width of your hips begs to differ" Virion said "Unless you are hideously deformed and if that were the case you would be unable to walk. A noble attempt but no womenfolk could escape the roving eyes of this Virion."

"You are mistaken, sir" Marth insisted between clenched teeth.

"I think not but I have never been one to deny a lady" Virion replied "If Milady will continue?"

"What were those things" Chrom asked, cutting through this silliness "They walked like a man yet fought like demons."

"We call them the Risen" Marth answered him "For they are corpses given life anew."

"What fell power summoned them from their graves? What of the blue light you emerged from?" Chrom asked. Marth didn't reply for a second, it looked like he was deeply contemplating something.

"I'd advise you to speak, good sir" Frederick warned rubbing his lance "The future of Ylisse is possibly at stake here and I'll be damned if I let it run through my fingers."

Marth barked a bitter laugh "What do you possibly know of the future, good sir? All I shall say is this, tonight you have had a small taste of the horror yet to come. Be vigilant."

"You claim all these things and yet you have no proof...but…" Chrom looked at the supernatural smoke hovering above them "Who are you, why are you here?"

"I am the messenger" Marth said "Farewell."

"Hold, my good sir" Frederick cried out lunging forward to try and grab him. He was a hair too slow though; Marth slipped through his grasp and easily outpaced the older knight. Dashing through the charred woods the pair ran for a good fifty paces using only with only the weak morning sun as their guide. His heart was beating so loudly in his ears Frederick didn't hear the patter of hooves on the soft ground until the horse and its cloaked rider raced past him.

"Stop" he shouted uselessly. Extending a hand the rider helped Marth swing onto the back of the horse. Within moments they were out of sight leaving Frederick coughing on the ashes they had kicked up. Defeated, Frederick stopped and bent over to catch his breath cursing his rotten luck with each gasp.

"Up the training regimen" he said to himself "I'm letting myself go soft."

Behind him the rest of his group crashed forward "Did you get her" Chrom asked.

"No Milord, I apologize. He had an accomplice who helped him escape on horseback. There is no way for us to apprehend them now, forgive me."

"While answers would have been nice you have no need to apologize" Chrom assured him "It's been a long night. Let's rest here and be on our way tomorrow morning."

A relieved sigh swept through the group "I could drop right here" Lissa cried. "Where's our bags, the food, the tents?"

Chrom stooped and picked up a handful of ash "I'd imagine that it's mixed in with this right here."

"Naga" Lissa said pulling at her hair "Why do we have the worst luck?"

Puttering around the camp everyone picked out the most comfortable patch of blackened ground they could find and hunkered down. Despite being uncomfortable everyone nodded off save for two. The adrenaline was still pumping through his veins and try as he might Chrom couldn't nod off no matter how hard he shut his eyes. The light rustle of ash caught his attention, squinting through his eyes he watched Sully stalk off into the woods. Worried about Risen lurking about, Chrom got up and chased after the crimson clad woman.

"You shouldn't be out here alone" he warned her strolling up to her side "Where are you heading for anyway?"

"Captain" Sully acknowledged him pawing at her eyes "This damn smog won't stop pestering me. I am looking for some stream to wash my eyes in. It's a fool's errand but I can't sleep with it clawing at my eyelids."

"Let me help you" Chrom said placing a hand on her shoulder "You've a better chance of finding a needle in a haystack than finding a stream with those eyes of yours."

"Thanks" Sully sighed tossing an arm around Chrom shoulders "Onward."

"Very well, Milady."

It took them three hours but by the morning's golden light Chrom found a pitiful little stream winding its way through the blackened ground. "Success" Chrom said helping Sully sit down near the stream. Digging a small divot in the earth he collected enough water to hold a small puddle of it in his hands. "Keep your eyes open, I'll flush them out" he instructed her. Clenching her eyes tight Sully took a deep breath then opened her right eye using her forefinger and thumb. Almost immediately she fought to stop from blinking, the tears welling in an effort to soothe the pain. With an expert's grace Chrom drew close and dribbled the water into her agitated cornea. Once he had washed it thoroughly he withdrew his hand and began to collect another palm full of water while Sully sighed in contentment.

"That worked" she said moving her eye about experimentally.

"Good, let's do the other one." The flushing commenced leaving Sully free of irritation.

"Thank Naga, one minute longer and I would have started strangling everything in sight" she breathed mopping her brow.

"Glad to be of service" Chrom said yawning "Shall we return?" The pair began to tramp back to camp only to be unsettled by the unnatural quiet permeating the woods.

"So…"Sully sighed scratching her head aimlessly "Who is that Ursula girl?"

"Didn't get much of a chance to talk?" Chrom asked.

"Yeah, she got up, met everyone, ate, had a seizure, threw up all over Virion" they laughed uproariously over that part "then she fainted dead away which is why she's out cold."

"Seizure, huh" Chrom muttered to himself.

"Yep, she got real hot, like she had a fever or something, started blabbering like a nut" Sully explained.

"Weird" the prince commented "That happened before too."

"Mind filling me in?"

After Chrom filled her in Sully ran a hand through her raggedy hair "Sheesh, this girl seems like trouble. You're sure she has amnesia?"

"You sound just like Frederick" Chrom snarked crossing his arms "I appreciate the advice but she hasn't done anything suspicious."

"Sorry, sorry" Sully replied placing her hands into the air in mock surrender "Didn't realize you get so bent out of shape when it comes to her. Kinda sounds like that one story with the knights and the windmills. She's your…what is it now? Dolcea? Dora? Ducha?"

"Dulcinea," Chrom sighed "And she is not."

Sully arched an eyebrow and smirked "Ohhhh, the little prince has got a crush~"

"Cut it out Sully" Chrom whined "I do not have a crush on her. I only met her a few days ago."

"Sure, nothing adorable going on around here" Sully remarked "Besides, you're a prince. If you want to put the moves on her who am I to get in the way."

"Thank you" Chrom said snippily. They walked in silence for a while but then Chrom began to hem and haw. "C-can I ask you a question?"

"Fire away" Sully replied.

"You're a woman, right" Chrom asked dumbly.

Sully stopped and pivoted around n place so she was looking right at him. "No, your Highness, I'm a cow" Sully deadpanned "Moo."

"I-I mean…um…I know your girl" Chrom blurted out "B-but…um…well…what do like in a man?"

Sully smirked "That won't help you."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Chrom was blushing "I'm just making conversation here!"

"I mean that asking what I find attractive in men is not the same as what Ursula finds attractive in men. Us women are as different as you men, ya know? Do you and Frederick have the same tastes in women?"

"Naga, if I find out we do I'll die" Chrom said rubbing the back of his head.

Sully laughed "Thankfully you're nothing like Never-to-be-Wed Fred. See what I mean about tastes?"

"Yeah" Chrom said depressed "I just…don't have a clue what to talk to her about."

Sully sighed "Well, I guess I could give you the general overview about what women like. Mind you this isn't a one size fits all thing. I hate most of the stuff on the list but girls like Sumia eat it up like crazy."

Chrom nodded "Alright, lay it on me."

"Well lessee… Women are all into the Prince Charming crap. You know, knight in shining armor saving a princess in a tower and happily ever after all, that junk." Sully gave a dismissive wave of her hand "But you already got most of that covered. All you need is more shininess."

"Shininess" Chrom mused "And pray tell how should obtain the shininess factor?"

"Damn if I know" Sully snorted "A diamond encrusted suit of armor? Find a way on your own."

"Alright, anything else I should know?"

"Ummmm…flowers, lots and lots of flowers, mostly pink and red. Roses seem to be the universal favorite. Make sure to always have them on hand to give to a lady, or throw the petals at her, or hold the stem in your teeth."

"Hold the rose stem in my mouth" Chrom repeated "Wouldn't that cut me? Is blood oozing from the gums a romance thing?"

"Uhhhh…that sounds about right" Sully said scratching her head "That and make sure the flowers are never wilted. Women take that symbolically."

"Symbolically, like root decay? What does root decay symbolize?"

"Hell if I know" Sully shouted "Like I told you this varies between girls."

"Alright, alright" Chrom said placating "What else?"

"Dancing in the rain" Sully said "Chicks eat that stuff up."

"Isn't that dangerous" Chrom said "People who get caught in the rain tend to contract pneumonia? Is pneumonia romantic?"

"Hell yes" Sully replied emphatically slamming her fist into the palm of her hand "All that sniffling and sneezing really get girls sentimental. That's another thing; girls like to cry around their boyfriends. This goes double if the boyfriend is the one who makes them cry."

"That sounds like domestic abuse" Chrom said frowning "Are you sure that's right."

"Course I'm sure, you should see them wail whenever their boyfriend breaks a date or something. It's like the end of the world." Sully complained "It's not so much physical abuse than a soft version of emotional abuse. Girls have these deep feelings that go out of control around their boyfriends."

"So if I'm making her cry because I'm pelting her with flowers with a bright suit of armor on then I'm doing seduction correctly."

"There is one more thing you got to do right to get the girl" Sully said swaying her hips back and forth "Body language."

Chrom shot her an amused look "Sounds like good advice. So what should I be shaking in order to tell her that I like her?"

Spinning around Sully grabbed his shoulders "Alright, here's a crash course. From what I heard this'll get you some loving for sure." She drew him in close so that only three inches were between the tips of their noses "First ya got get in close till you can see the white's of her eyes and smell the rancor of her breath."

"How's my breath" Chrom asked.

"Deadly" Sully said retracting a bit and waving a hand in front of her face "Chew some mint leaves before you do this, ok?" She drew back in "Then you gotta **bat** your eyes, like **dis**."

Chrom snickered as she gave him an example "Ok, then what?"

"Then ya pucker up like you've swallowed a lemon" Sully whispered as her lips began to curl "And then you lean in…" She dragged Chrom closer, in response he closed his eyes and puckered up in preparation. But instead of a kiss Sully ducked past his head entirely and slid to the side leaving Chrom to kiss thin air. "And then ya fall in love and make love all night then, marriage, baby carriage, yadda, yadda, yadda" Sully said drawing back "And that's love."

"Love is complicated" Chrom said aloud.

"Hahahahaha, yeah, pretty much" Sully replied giving a belly laugh. By the time they got back to camp they could barely keep their eyes open.

"Naga I'm tired" Chrom remarked stretching "I doubt an entire week would be long enough to feel rested again."

"Goodnight, Captain" Sully called out plopping herself down into the dirt. Chrom followed suit but soon rolled onto his side "Hey, Sully?"

"Yeah, Captain?" she called back with a yawn.

"Just call me Chrom, ok? None of this Captain nonsense."

"Why the hell not? You're my boss now, not to mention the prince of Ylisse. Gotta show the proper respect."

"Well stop it, it just sounds wrong."

Sully turned to her side so she could get a good glimpse of Chrom "Wrong how?"

"We've known each other since we were kids! It's just weird, call me by my first name."

Sully yawned; she was too tired to continue this conversation "Sure."

Chrom smiled "Thanks."

The next morning came all too fast and Frederick made sure that no one lollygagged. Ursula barely had time to scarf down the rest of the bear meat she had torn from the hide. Her headache was finally gone and she had awoken to her stomach making an awful racket. Slurping down the last bit she patted her stomach in contention, she was getting used to this. As they walked through the forest she noticed Chrom drawing closer to her. She stared at him as he began to do the strangest thing.

"Something wrong with your eyes, meat sack?"


	4. You're in the Army Now (Judy)

Chapter 4: You're in the Army Now (Judy)

**O sorceress**

**clad in the flames of Hell...**

**let thy fiery incantation bear its fangs**

**The words of Masebde, the High Sorceress**

A host of fireballs sprang from her hand curving through the air from several different sides hitting the stone target at staggered times. 'That looked similar to Genis' Fireball spell' Judy thought as closed the Fire Tome with a snap.

"Not too shabby" Hank commented inspecting the rock for visible damage. "Well, you didn't have enough power to melt it but that'll make chumps think twice about attacking you." It had been six months since Judy had arrived in this world. Aside from her first three days here she hadn't cried once, she had been far too busy learning how to conjure flames from thin air.

Opening the tome she turned to page 18 "I'll try to put more oomph into it" she said.

"Don't bother, we're done" Hank answered, standing back up. Judy quirked an eyebrow, the sun had not yet hit its zenith so it was too early for lunch.

"What's the matter, old man? Slowing down" she asked with a smirk.

"Hell no" he barked "We're done, got it?"

"Uh…no?" Judy replied "Done with what? This session?"

"Naw, we're done. Period. There ain't nothing more I can teach ya." Hank explained "From here on out ya gotta learn from a professional."

"The army" Judy said, hazarding a guess.

"Yep, we're heading for Ylisstol."

The rest of the morning was used to prepare for the trip. Judy packed the supplies they would need while Hank yoked the oxen to the wagon. Before long they were meandering down the same road Judy had taken when she had tried to leave. "How long until we get to the capitol" Judy asked from her position within the wagon.

"Two weeks" Hank replied "I expect you to keep practicing your incantations."

"What else is there to do" she asked looking about the wagon. Aside from their bedrolls and the food there was nothing to entertain herself with. Sighing Judy leaned her head back against the side and began to sing.

**O sorceress**

**clad in the flames of Hell...**

**let thy fiery incantation bear its fangs**

**The words of Masebde, the High Sorceress**

* * *

Two weeks was a long time when you had very little in the ways of entertainment. Judy caught up on her sleep and worked on her magic, it was her only defense against the drudgery. Hank was resistant to conservation, she hadn't gotten a lot out of him since she had arrived but right now he was especially taciturn. Eventually the road joined to a larger causeway that led them straight to the capitol. There was more hustle as merchants and families traveled alongside them providing them with snippets of gossip. The word of mouth was about the recent rash of brigands that seemed to be prowling around the borders of Ylisse. It was an open secret that these "bandits" were in fact either hired by Plegia, their nasty neighbors, to raid their borders or actual Plegian soldiers decked out in furs and face paint. The army had their hands full chasing them around the countryside leading to much grumbling and groaning as to the lack of action from the Exalt to address this more effectively. One person, during one of these whining sessions, pointed out that the Exalt's own brother, Prince Chrom, was riding about taking down bandits himself.

For Judy these conversations were eye opening, in an uneasy way. The general consensus from the masses seemed to be that Prince Chrom was a shining example of a noble actually doing things while Emmeryn was badmouthed as a ruler with no spine. The game made it sound like the people were falling all over each other with adoration for their leader. It seemed like the Exalt had not managed to shake the stigma her father had left, unlike her brother. The fact that the perspective was so different made her uncomfortable. She was ramming head first into the realization that there were a lot of perspectives that had not been present in the game. What did this mean to her? Her only way out of this hellhole was by beating the game and one of the few aces she had was knowing what the game was going to throw at her. Could there be portions that the game never touched upon? She felt a small wave of despair overcome her and retreated into herself for the remainder of the trip. As they approached Hank broke his silence to teach her about the basic history of Ylisstol.

The first Exalt, after the Schism, began constructing the castle in the fifteenth year of his reign. Mining the plentiful marble from the area the entire castle was a gleaming white, people came all the way from the Valm continent to admire it. Along with its many rooms, hallways, and passageways was the large chapel that lay at the heart of the building. Ylisse was a theocracy, along with ruling the land the Exalt guided the souls of their people as the hierophant of the Naga religion. Tiki, the voice of Naga, was the only other person who outranked them. Every fourth day the people would gather in castle's chapel in order to hear the words of Naga.

As they entered the town through the southern gate, known as the Gate of Plenty, the street opened up into a large square where a massive crowd had been gathered. Directing the carriage to the side Hank pointed to what the crowd was surrounding. "This is important" he whispered to her. A large stage had been constructed there and several people were moving about on top of it. At first Judy thought it was a play of some kind but then the riff raff of the crowd died as the booming voice of one of the people on stage sounded off.

"Greetings fellow worshipers of Naga" the voice cried "Once there were two forces, creation and destruction. Each of them formed into a physical being. One is our beloved Naga, goddess of life!" The crowd screamed in approval and Hank took this lull to whisper

"Those were the abridged version of the opening lines Sancta Draco, the Naga Religion's first holy book."

"First" Judy replied "How many of them are there?"

"Nine, it's a boxed set." Hank said before the crowd calmed allowing the speaker to continue.

"The other, the incarnation of destruction itself, became the dark dragon Grima." More screams but these were ones of rage and hatred instead of approval. "Naga created mankind out of her unfathomable love and once we were happy but Grima envied that happiness" the speaker preached forcing his voice above the din of the crowd "All she asked was our devotion, all she asked was our obedience, not such a great task upon us. She has blessed us time and again for our faithfulness so then I ask why…" The man turned and pulled a sack off the head of one of the people standing, it was at this point Judy got a clue about what was going down.

"Why do these men choose to worship Grima, the enemy of mankind, over our guardian Naga?" The crowd whipped itself into a frenzy. Screams of "kill the Grimleal" and "punish the traitor" rang from the masses like waves on a beach. The man accused of being a Grimleal began to scream back at them but thanks to all the noise Judy couldn't make out what he was saying. More sacks were removed revealing a small cabal of men who screamed back at the crowd. One in particular in was convulsing like mad, his eyes cast skyward staring at nothing in particular.

"Grima, glorious Grima, look at these pigs squealing in their squalor" his thin, reedy voice managed to pierce through the noise like a knife "Please, kill them all. Please, kill me and accept me into your bloodstained arms. Kill them all, kill them all, KILL THEM ALL!" He whipped his head from side to side and began to froth at the mouth making several people in the audience charge the stage. The knights guarding the perimeter pushed them back, clearly letting the Grimleal be disemboweled was far too easy a punishment. Instead the priest bent down and grabbed an unlit torch from the one of the clergy in the audience.

"Look at evil infests their soul! So saturated by their sick, twisted desires they call out for the judgment of Grima!" Sensing the crowd's impatience the priest decided to get on with it "The punishment as appointed by divine Naga for the worship of Grima is to be burned at the stake!" At this point Hank felt like they had seen enough and began to lead the wagon down one of the many streets that branched out from the plaza but Judy tapped him on the shoulder.

"I want to see this" she whispered to him. He didn't reply but he did stop the wagon. Using a firestarter the priest lit the torch and presented it in front of the Grimleal. "Know that Naga has forsaken you" he informed them before placing the flame onto the stage. The wood was nice and dry so the fire grew quickly. Judy watched as the Grimleal burned. All the while the heretics supplicated Grima for the destruction of everything. Soon they were little more than charred meat which pleased the crowd greatly. Hank watched the fire burn before continuing eastward, down a main street that lead to the military district.

"I'm surprised" Hank commented "I thought you'd start vomiting or something." Judy furrowed her eyebrow; it did seem a little strange how apathetic she was feeling right now. She was a girl from a city in one of the most tolerant countries in the world. Within reasonable logic she should have been emotionally traumatized.

"Like I care" she murmured "Why should I care what these people do to each other? This isn't my world."

"Good answer" Hank said "Keep that feeling close to your heart, it'll help keep ya alive." They had to disembark at another gate, called the Gate of Glory, which led into the military district. Using Hank's broad figure as a shield Judy looked about; more and more pedestrian were sporting armor and uniforms. They moved at a brisk pace as they exited and entered the buildings around them. A large, five story mansion stuck out from the rest of the two story buildings. Even from a distance Judy easily deduced that this was where they were heading. The top of it was covered in flags "Those are the flags of the noble houses of Ylisse with the Exalt's flag at the center." Hank explained "Registration is to the right." Filtering in through the large double doors along with many others the pair swung a right down a hallway decked with all sorts of military paraphernalia.

Hank paused in front of one of the doors "Here we are" he said placing a hand on her back and leading her inside. The room was very small, only one man and a desk lay beyond the door. On the desk were two stacks of paper, between them was seated a bespectacled man with glasses and severe frown lines. A typical bureaucrat. "Hey" Hank called out, if he hadn't the guy probably would never have noticed them.

"Can I help you" the guy asked clearly annoyed that they were taking time away from his paper work progress.

"Yeah, she wants to join the army" Hank said jerking his thumb at Judy "How do we do that?"

Grabbing one of the papers from his desk he shoved it forward "Sign here, here, here, initial here, sign here, and initial here." He offered them an ink dipped quill which Hank took on her behalf and jotted down the relevant information. Once the ink dried it was a done deal "Welcome to the army, miss" the bureaucrat droned offering a limp handshake "Report to the mage department. You'll get assigned to a study. It's down the hall, take the first right. It's the door on the left." His attention slipped from her face back to his stack of papers.

The pair exited into the hallway "Later" Hank said as he shuffled back towards the entrance.

"Wait…what?" it took Judy a second to realize what was going on. Dashing forward she grabbed his shoulder "What the hell? Are you just going to abandon me here?"

"Yep, my part is done" Hank said, shaking her grip "Good luck." He took three more steps before she latched back onto him

"Well, are you going to come see me. I know we aren't family or anything but…" Judy sighed "You're my only link to the real world."

"Sorry kid but I ain't sticking around" Hank snorted.

"Well, the least you can do is say a proper goodbye" Judy grumbled.

"What number are you" Hank asked turning around and staring her right in the face.

"What?"

"What number are you?"

Judy hesitated for a second before answering "Number thirty eight."

Hank didn't say anything, he just stared at her until the implications sank in.

"Fuck you" Judy said bitterly before pivoting and stalking down the hallway.

She found the room easy enough but she had to pause outside the door and take a few deep breaths. It helped calm the spite gnawing at her gut. Once she was ready she grabbed the handle and entered the room. The room was made of the same gray stone as the rest of the building was but colorful banners hung up on the wall. A few portraits of wizened old men and women in brightly colored robes hung on the walls, perhaps notable sorcerers of the past? A few people were lounging about on wooden benches; they immediately took notice of her. "Can I help you" a girl with chestnut hair asked.

"Yeah, I joined the army" Judy explained "They put me in the mage division."

"Ok, then" the girl said with a nod "I think Commander Hastings is around here somewhere." Leading her down the hall the girl ducked into several rooms asking the occupants within where the Commander was. Finally they found him tutoring someone in one of the many common rooms scattered throughout the division.

The commander was a short man with a neat bowl cut and a dapper little moustache. "Commander, we have a new recruit" the girl said pushing Judy forward.

The captain stood up and offered his hand "Hello, it's nice to meet you. My name is Grant Hastings, I'm the Commander of the 4th Mage Study of the Ylissean army. I welcome you to our outfit."

"My name is Judy" she replied shaking his hand "Thanks for taking me on."

"Quite the opposite actually, we've been starved for new recruits for quite sometime now." The Commander turned to the chestnut haired girl "Kathy can you get her a room and help her settle? I'll meet you in the anteroom in a half hour."

"Of course" the girl replied before gesturing to the door "This way please." They wound around the corridors until a large pair of double doors stood before them. "This is the girl's quarter" Kathy explained "Boys aren't allowed here and vice versa for us and their dorm. Getting caught means a serious infraction, possibly instant expulsion from the military."

Inside was a common room where several groups of girls were scattered about, studying or playing cards or conversing with each other. Strolling to the bulletin board posted on one of the walls Kathy looked at it "All right let's see…Room number 44 is open. This lists the room assignments. Because there is a shortage of personnel you'll get a room all to yourself." Grabbing the quill near the list she jotted down Judy's name. "Did you bring anything with you?" Judy shook her head no; aside from the clothes on her back she had nothing. "Sheesh, not even a brush?" Kathy asked "You know we don't get paid, right?" Judy shrugged, she felt too hollow to care about being broke. "Ok then" Kathy said "Want to see your room?"

It was bigger than what she was expecting, it could easily have held seven beds as well as three chest of drawers within its confines. Then again, it was built to room multiple people. The only bed in it lay in the far right corner with a small chest at the foot of it used to store clothing or personal items. There were no windows but a brief inspection of the bedding revealed that it was thin enough to keep the occupant cool at night. Perhaps they changed out the linens for thicker ones during the winter months?

"Well, since you have no luggage I guess we could head for the anteroom now" Kathy said. The pair exited the dormitory and rewound their ways back through the halls until they entered a medium sized room with a long table taking up the center of the room. Judy sat down and Kathy left.

Twenty minutes later Commander Hastings entered "Oh" he said seeing Judy sitting there patiently "That was quick."

"I didn't need much help settling in" she explained. Nodding he took a seat across from her.

"May I start with a few personal questions?"

Judy shrugged "Sure, fire away."

"What's your age?"

"Twenty two."

"Any relatives?"

"Both of my parents are deceased."

The Commander regarded her with pity "I'm so sorry to hear that. Bandits?"

"The plague" Judy replied trying to sound as sullen as possible. Hank had worked out her backstory for her and they had gone over it multiple times. It was pretty simple too.

"Here's the million gold question though. Any particular reason you chose to join the Ylissean army rather than the Feroxi army?"

It took Judy a tick to realize he was inferring to her skin color "The climate suits me more. I never cared for nine months of snow followed by three month of slush."

"Understandable" the Commander said "How much magic do you know?"

"I think I'm a novice" Judy said.

"Mind if I quiz you?" Commander Hastings asked. They went through the breadth and depth of basic magic, the physics behind it, and how to read the meter of an incantation. A small test of her actual casting capabilities later and Commander Hastings was satisfied. "Not bad" he said watching her fireballs arc about the air before sizzling out. "You have very little innate talent" he commented "But with lots of dedication and practice I'm sure you'll be able to master up to Arcfire." Judy nodded; she had heard the same thing from Hank. "Dinner will be in two hours and the lights go out at 0100 hours. We begin our day at 0700. The full schedule of day to day training is up in the common room and dormitories." With that he exited the room leaving Judy to her own machinations.

She spent the three hours sulking in her room before heading to dinner. Around her the conversation focused on the return of the Shepherds a fortnight earlier as well as their impending departure to Regna Ferox. "Hey, new girl, What's you homeland like? Never been to Regna Ferox." A guy sitting next to her asked.

"Lots of ice and snow" Judy replied "Not much else."

"I heard that Miriel is accompanying them" one girl commented.

"The legendary Miriel? Isn't that a bit overkill?" one guy said "I mean, this is a diplomatic mission, right? No reason to break out the big guns."

"Haven't you heard? Monsters have started popping up all over the place" the guy sitting beside her said "Sheesh, do you live under a rock? There was a huge panic in the city not five days ago."

"You need to spend less time in the library" another girl sniffed "They're taking the Shepherds and the legendary Miriel to guard the Prince against monster attacks."

"Man, first Plegia then monsters" another guy groaned "Did we sin against Naga or something? It seems like we've been cursed at times." There was a small moment of silence as everyone around Judy ducked their head and sent a little prayer to the Divine Dragon for protection.

"Monster and the legendary Miriel aside, have you heard about Peggy?"

"The fact that she's a got a boyfriend? Who'd have thought that porky Peg would ever score a man?"

"And you accuse me of spending too much time in my books" the library boy sniped "She went on an extreme diet and now has a bangin' body."

"Her body would be the only reason you ever looked up from your tomes."

Judy retired early; she wanted to be rested for tomorrow. The next day was quite eventful. The whole system was less like boot camp and more like college in her experience. After a half hour for morning ablutions there was breakfast then lecture on magic for two hours. Two hours before breakfast the entire division went out into the courtyard for calisthenics. A healthy body leads to a healthy mind was very much a motto among these mages. Once lunch was over the real work began. Choral practice for four hours, for the first week Judy's voice was hoarse until she got used to such rigor. Mages were shuffled and reshuffled as different combinations of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses blended to make the most potent magic they could produce. The next two hours were spent one on one with the more experienced mages tutoring the newbies. Dinner was late at night with the few hours before curfew being the only free time they had. The only day off, which constituted as a weekend for Judy was every fourth day which was considered a high holy day on the Naga calendar. While everyone went to the chapel to worship Judy would get to sleep in. Her unabashed atheism didn't earn her any ire but it was broadcast loud and clear from her teammates that it would be best for her not to flaunt it.

Without Hank to keep her from spiraling into depression Judy learned to preoccupy herself. Idle thoughts were the enemy. Without much to do Judy found herself practicing her magic with an intensity she had never exerted before. The songs became a mantra she rarely stopped singing. In the bath, exercising, between bites of food, hell she might have even been doing it in her sleep. In whispery tones she hummed the incantations as she walked to and from her room. "Effort beats talent every time" Judy sighed to herself as poured over the sheets of Elfire incantations. That sage advice from Pepitta Rossetti proved to right on the money. Commander Hastings had taken notice of her fervor and began to work with her one on one. With two months she had mastered the entire score to Fire. It wasn't the fastest anyone had done it, word of mouth had it that it had taken the legendary Miriel a week to move from Fire to Arcfire, but she was still ahead of the curve. Elfire proved to be a tough challenge. The stanzas grew much more complicated with entire sections weaving in and out with deceptive languor.

The speed of her progress ground to frustrating crawl. At times Judy felt like throwing a tantrum as she continually botched stanza after stanza with horrendous pitch. Commander Hastings proved to be a wonderfully patient teacher as he corrected her flaws and weathered her moods. Four and a half months passed, and then things got real. First, word came that the duke of Themis' daughter, Maribelle, had been kidnapped by Plegia when she had tried to stop them from ransacking one of the villages. The news had barely time to register when better news came on its coattails. Prince Chrom had returned from Regna Ferox having successfully obtained an alliance from the khans. The minute he stepped into the palace the Prince took command. The army was mobilized but all out war was not declared. The recent past with Plegia was on everyone's mind during this time, could the last fifteen years of peace be shattered so easily? Calmly Emmeryn weighed the facts and decided to be prepared to react. A small number of troops were moved out to the forts surrounding the border between Plegia and Ylisse. Not enough to make a statement, if questioned the military could tactfully explain the increase of personnel as bandit deterrent.

Within the ranks, however, it was a well known fact that war was a definite possibility. The ransom letter Gangrel, King of Plegia, sent to Ememryn confirmed it. It was the Fire Emblem or war. The 4th Mage's division led by Commander Hastings rode out into the field heading at full steam for the Victrion Stronghold. Overseeing a major thoroughfare between the two countries this military structure would be high on the Plegian list of priorities when they invaded. The wall of mountains that created the borders would be hell to traverse and make maintaining a steady supply line damn near impossible. The atmosphere among the knights of the fort was extremely grim. For the first time in six months Judy felt something other than freezing apathy. Her nails were soon bitten down to the stubs, sometimes they would bleed because she would cut them too short. Every sound in the night was a Plegian soldier bearing down at her from the dark. She was not alone in her fear; many of the soldiers were just as twitchy. They might have all gone insane if it weren't for the veterans of the previous war. Commander Hastings was hyper vigilant making sure that all of his soldiers were ok.

He found Judy hunched over her tomes in one of the common rooms of the fort picking at her nails unconsciously. "Any shorter and they'll start to bleed" he warned her as he pushed her fingers apart.

"Sorry" she sighed trying something to occupy her hands with "All this waiting is killing me."

Commander Hastings gave a knowing smile and pushed the Elfire tome in front of her "Let's review; it'll take your mind off things." They ran through the material several times until the sunset. It had been an overcast day so the dark just got darker but it was enough of a difference to drive everyone inside.

"I think I might be going be going crazy" one of her teammates whined as a group of them sat down around Judy and Commander Hastings.

"Hey Commander, how did you deal with this when you were in the Crusade?" The war the previous Exalt, Chrom's father, had waged against Plegia had been religiously motivated qualifying it as a Crusade instead of a war.

"It's always like this" Commander Hastings explained gesturing to the nervous energy that was infecting everyone "I'd imagine every soldier experiences this."

"Does it get better over time" one girl asked "It's been five days already."

Commander Hastings shook his head "No, it doesn't get better but you do find ways to cope with it. For example…" He reached into his cloak and extracted a ball of yarn and some knitting needles "I sew to keep calm."

"Art and crafts sounds like a good idea" the girl admitted "I think I saw some paper in the storage closet."

Soon the common room was filled with paintings, origami, doilies, and planes. It worked like a charm, the quiet rustle of paper and clack of knitting needles drowned out the all consuming silence that had set them on edge. Crafting a fortune teller of her own Judy idly flipped through the fortunes she had scribbled. They were fairly mundane stuff like getting married or being happy in life. She needed colors for the outside of it so she excused herself to see if they had any dyed ink in the storage closet. The night guard was roving about hallway with grim looks plastered on their faces. Each time she passed one they would stoically nod in her direction, she admired their courage. The storage closet was past the courtyard which was filled with soldiers. From the sidelines Judy watched as the knight commander pushed his men through their paces in their full armor.

"C'mon you lot, push yourselves" he yelled at them as they did pushups "After this rep I want you to run twenty laps around the perimeter." He caught Judy watching them from the doorway "Unless you want to join us miss I suggest you go back to your chambers." Mumbling a quick apology Judy ducked inside the storage closet and ran straight into someone's back.

"Argh! Golly, ma'am I sure am sorry 'bout that" The accent was pretty unmistakable, it was Donnel in the flesh.

The farmer's son picked up the pot that had fallen to the ground when they collided and placed it back on his head. "I'm more jumpy than a chicken coop with a fox in it" he moaned mostly to himself "All this exercisin' ain't helpin a lick neither."

"Hang in there" Judy said aimlessly as she passed him to get the vials of ink on the shelves behind him.

"A-anyhoom um…my name's Donnel" he said "Do ya got a sec?"

Since she hadn't talked to any of the Shepherds yet Judy was curious enough to acquiesce "Sure, have anything specific in mind" she asked placing the ink vials in her pouch.

"Eh, not really. Just wanted to shoot the breeze to help calm these goshdang shivers. " He fished for a topic of conversation "So, yer a mage?"

"Yep, I'm in the 4th Mage's Division under Commander Hastings."

He gave a gander at her outfit "Yer clothin sure is…bright."

She grunted "I hate it too."

"Whelp, if yer ever in the area round Southtown my ma can fix ya up with some dyed in wool cotton fabric. Ain't even close to that silken stuff from Chon'sin but damn if it ain't durable and a hell of a lot less…uh."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Judy remarked before changing the subject "So Donnel, are you a squire or something."

"Not even that" he groaned "I'm a trainee. Lowest of the low I tell ya. Until my commander decides which class I'll be I'm tinkerin' with all sorts of spears and swords and doodads. Once somethin' catches ma fancy then I'll become a proper soldier but until then I'm a water boy.

"That sucks" Judy said empathizing with him "Do you at least have an idea what you want to be?"

"I ain't gotta clue" he moaned "Hoowee, I thought tilling the fields was the hardest thing a man could do. All the other guys tell me is not to be a damn myrmidon."

"A wise piece of advice" Judy agreed.

"Actually, now that you're here can I ask you a question? Yer a mage so ya know magic and the commander said I might have some magical skills. Do ya think you could teach me a spell?"

She hesitated and he jumped "Please! Swear to Naga I ain't askin' fer fireballs or nothing. Just the tiniest little magic mumbo jumbo that even a farm hand like me can use without needin' all that book learning."

"I'm sorry Donnel. I wish I could help you but I'm basically a trainee myself. I've only been doing magic for half a year. If you want I could introduce you to Commander Hastings, he'd be much better suited for that sorta thing."

Donnel looked a bit put off by her refusal but he gradually perked back up "Alright, much appreciate it. Speaking of appreciation it is right dandy for yer Khans to be lending us a helping hand during these trying times."

It took her a second to clue in "Oh, uh…yeah. There's no reason why our two countries can't help each other out. Especially against Plegia."

"Damn straight" Donnel cheered "We'll give those heretics a what for once and fer all! I'll show them they can't go round burning down villages and rapin the womenfolk. Do ya think I be able to earn myself a medal?" His face was positively beaming by this point "Damn, what I wouldn't do fer a medal. I'd go home and give it to my ma. I betcha Prince Chrom would even present it to little ole me personally! I met him once."

"Who?"

"The Prince, dummy. He's a right dandy fellow, all dashin' and brave. He saved my village last year."

"Really" Judy remarked her mind turning, was he talking about Paralogue 1?

"Yeah, those Plegian bastards attacked my village, burnt down all the crops, and were about to sell all us into slavery when I managed to break free and go git help. Naga must've been smiling on me that day cause I found the Shepherds not ten stones' throw away from ma village. They killed em all and rescued my ma. I wanted to go with em but Chrom said I do better in the army than in the Shepherds." His face fell at this point; clearly he wanted to be on the same team as his hero.

"Well, the Shepherds are the cream of the crop. The legendary Miriel is a Shepherd so there no way a couple of newbies like us are going to be able to join them."

Donnel sighed "We can dream can't we? By the way who is the legendary Miriel?"

Judy was about to explain when someone crashed into the storage shed. "Where the hell are you boy" the man yelled as he looked around. It was the night commander who had been running the knights ragged with training exercises. He was pissed.

"Son, we are in a war! Do you hear me? A Naga damned war! This ain't the time for women!" He grabbed Donnel by the collar and dragged him outside "I want forty suicides followed by seventy crunches on the double. Ya ain't going to bed til they're done."

He booted the farm boy into the courtyard then rounded on Judy "And as fer you, little Miss hot-to-trot, you can save the bedroom eyes fer when the Plegians ain't bearing down on our position and ya got a ring on that finger of yours. Now get outta here!" The pressure to run was greater than the need to defend her innocence so Judy dashed past him back into the hallway chased by the chuckles of the knights who had witnessed the spectacle. She calmed down before she reentered the common room, no need for any probing questions from her comrades in arms. She easily painted the dots on her paper fortune teller then, on a whim, rewrote the fortunes with more interesting prophecies. By that time the yawning began and one by one people got up to go to bed. By the time Judy was done with her paper fortune teller she and Commander Hastings were the only ones up.

"Going to bed soon, sir?"

Commander Hastings looked up from his knitting needles "Not quite, perhaps in a little bit."

"Thanks for this evening" Judy said with a small smile "It really helped. My fingernails thank you too."

He chuckled "I'm glad you enjoyed. It's moments like these that help us weather the storm. After lunch tomorrow I want you to work on your Elfire tome more. You'll get a breakthrough at some point if you keep practicing." Judy nodded and headed for bed.


	5. Daddy Dearest (Ursula)

Chapter 5: Daddy Dearest (Ursula)

The Castle of the Exalt had many towers that jutted out from its roof. The largest of these was the Tower of Naga which was where the Exalt went to sacrifice to sacrifice a pure white ox to the divine dragon and commune with her directly on the holiest day of the Ylissean calendar. One of the most inconspicuous towers was called the Tower of Basel, named after the twenty fourth Exalt. Unlike the holy towers that surrounded it this one had a bit of a shady history originating with why it was built. The already married Basel met a peasant woman named Leanne who would be remembered as one of the most beautiful women in the history of the continent. She was so fetching the bards wrote an entire epic around her life, one that did not end happily. Having fallen in love with Leanne but forbidden by Naga's divine law from having more than one wife Basel came up with an audacious plan. He built the tower then imprisoned her within it declaring that Naga had told him to keep her safe from the malicious men who would try to claim her innocence for their own. No one dared question the Exalt so he happily got away with having a wife and a mistress in the same house. The guy who wrote the epic took painstaking care to detail the anguish Leanne felt, the bitter tears she wept due to being hidden away from the world, and the madness of seeing all the babies she birthed killed. See, Basel wasn't dumb. He knew that an illegitimate heir could cause trouble when he passed so he nipped that early in the bud by having all of Leanne's babies tossed out the window the minute they had been severed from the umbilical cord.

It was out of that infamous window Ursula stared as she watched the rain tap on the panes. The minute they had entered the palace Frederick had several knights apprehend her. They had locked her in here for the past four months with a guard stationed outside the door. Clearly they weren't just going to kill her but what Frederick had in mind left her clueless. What she did know was that the next time she saw that son of a bitch she was going to instill the fear of Grima within him no matter what it took. 'How dare these meat sacks confine me' she fumed as she busied herself with a project. She was at their mercy as long as she was unarmed but without paper and ink she couldn't magecraft a tome. So she had to be creative. Using the curtains framing the baby window she used her teeth to tear them into strips then bit her thumb until it started to bleed. It would be risky, magic was always a gamble, but using her divine blood Ursula could scrawl out a Flux spell using these woefully inadequate materials. She had enough for at least five spells and each of them would have to count.

Binding them into a tome using the sash that had tied the curtains back Ursula inspected her work. "This inferior body is such a hassle" she griped as her fingers weaved the spin together. During her stay she had managed to remember one important thing about her condition, it was possible to reverse it and soon at that. For some reason the unsupported thought that there was some sort of accomplice working for her out there would not leave her mind. However, no matter how hard Ursula racked her brain she could not remember anything past being Grima and how to get back to being Grima. Thusly there were two possible explanations. One, her soul had been released from the orb of Naga the first Exalt had bound her in and reincarnated into this hideously inferior being. Two, someone had sealed away a great portion of her memories for some reason, possibly to stop her from finding out about her current state of being.

She took a small nap after she finished with the tome. She "saw" them coming so she hid the tome in her cloak and waited for them to enter. A half hour later the guard conversed with someone outside her door, it was too muffled for Ursula to make out. The oaken door swung open and a mysterious man stepped into the room. He was a giant; he could barely squeeze past the door frame. He was bald, black, and only wearing pants and some sort of half shirt that barely covered his nipples. He surveyed the room grimly until his eyes landed on her lounging there. "Are you Ursula?" he asked, his voice was deep and booming.

"Yes" she replied monotonously "Are you going to let me out."

"Possibly" Frederick said as he squeezed past the giant and entered her room. Her hand twitched, the desire to pull out her tome and blow him into million meaty chunks was ridiculously tempting but she fought it. He had said "possibly" so she might have a better chance to escape alive if she held out for a bit longer. A third person entered the room, her very presence made Ursula gag. It was the Exalt herself in all of her shiny, serene glory. The very flesh on Ursula's chest began to sear painfully as it remembered the blade of Falchion stabbing her over and over.

"Hello Lady Ursula" she said gently with a smile that could resurrect dead puppies "I wish to ask for your forgiveness at my need to imprison you here." She was so sincere Ursula nearly retched "

Fuck you" she spat at the Exalt. "And fuck you" she directed at Frederick before turning to the big stranger "And, what the hell, fuck you too."

Instead of being offended he guffawed "I like her."

"I wish it were mutual" Frederick grumbled crossing his arms "Anyway let's get started with introduction. Lady Ursula, this is the Khan of the West, Basilio and our most Holy Exalt Emmeryn the 18th."

"I want to thank you so much for you assistance" Emmeryn began "Because of you we avoided the Plegian trap and managed to save Maribelle at the same time with minimal casualties." A month ago Frederick had came to her with a challenge, if she won he would reconsider keeping her confined within the tower. His challenge was thus, Plegia had captured the duke of Themis' daughter, Maribelle. They demanded the Fire Emblem for her release, a condition the Ylisseans could never accept. However, this Maribelle was a close friend to the Exalt's family and the Themis family had been very helpful allies during Emmeryn's ascension to the throne. The question Frederick posed to Ursula was this, how do they save Maribelle without giving up the Fire Emblem?

The answer laid itself before her eyes an Ursula dictated to him the path to total victory. First, they had to leave Ricken, the youngest Shepherd, behind. Then they had to build a fake Fire Emblem, one good enough to fool the King of Plegia from a distance. The Exalt herself would walk it exactly six yards forward until the king shouted the order for the soldiers hidden in area to attack. At this point Ricken, who had followed the Shepherds there, would leap out from his hiding spot and attack the soldiers who were about to kill Maribelle in front of Emmeryn. The two of them would move to the east where Phila and her Pegasus squadron should lie waiting for them and airlift them away. Meanwhile Frederick should lead the charge to scoop up Emmeryn and carry her back to the Shepherds. They should retreat for two miles, stop to dispatch an squadron of assassins' whom the king of Plegia had planned to backstab them while they fought his soldiers then race forward to the Victrion stronghold where they could be safe.

"Hot damn" Basilio commented eyeing Ursula "I just thought that whole debacle was dumb luck." Frederick rolled his eyes, he knew that the West Khan was the slower of the pair but this level of dumbass was far beyond what he had predicted.

"A-are you able to commune with holy Naga" Emmeryn suddenly piped up "I've heard her voice a handful of times but she is the one who initiates the conversation. She never answers when I call to her, even on the high holy days."

Ursula shrugged "That's for me to know and you to exploit."

"Indeed" Frederick said "As you may have surmised, we will allow you to wander the castle under supervision. Serve the royal family well and your rewards will increase exponentially."

"But not my freedom"

Frederick nodded "Exactly. Quite the proposition if I may so say so."

Ursula scowled "Negotiations are so much easier when you use force."

"I rarely deal any other way" the knight said then ushered to the door "Your freedom, Lady Ursula."

"After you" she said, the minute that bastard turned his back to her she would strike.

"As you will but before we exit I have one more matter to attend to." With amazing speed Frederick crossed the room thrusting his hands deep into her cloak.

* * *

"By the holy flames of Naga Frederick" Emmeryn exclaimed, her face a deep crimson "I do not approve of such vulgarity!"

"Sheesh, can't you wait till we leave the room" Basilio growled.

Ursula gave a snarl as she fought him for her makeshift tome. He easily overpowered her "I will be confiscating this" he said holding the tome out of reach of her grasping hands "And should I ever find you in possession of a weapon again you will most assuredly return to this room for indefinite amount of time."

She hissed like a snake at him "You'll be the first to go I swear it." The knight shrugged and left leaving his liege lady to linger for a moment.

"I'm so sorry for Fredrick's brusque manner." Emmeryn supplicated "He only has the halidom's best interests at heart. I will make sure your every need is met but please… Please don't try to escape. It will only hurt you in the end."

"Some representative of Naga you are" Ursula spat "Isn't that damn dragon all about love and forgiveness?"

"Indeed and I practice what I preach. However there are circumstances that require us to bend the rules a bit."

"Isn't that called hypocrisy?"

Emmeryn shook her head and smiled "No, its called politics."

With the grace of a swan she exited the room, no doubt off to feed the poor and raise the dead leaving Ursula alone with the hulking man-beast. "So, what's your deal" she asked tossing her blond hair back with one hand in a dismissive nature "Too dumb to run while you can?"

He laughed "Naw, I'm just an unfortunate victim of circumstance. I used to be head khan in Regna Ferox until Emmeryn's brother came along and defeated my champion. Now the East Khan's in control and she sent me to be the Feroxi liaison in Ylisse."

"Nice move" Ursula commented "Now she can kick out the people you put in charge and replace them with her own choices in your absence."

"Pretty much" Basilio commented "Politics is a damn pain in the ass." He gestured to the door "Are you going to get out and explore the castle or are you going to mope in here some more?" She huffed but complied, she couldn't accomplish anything in here.

Her tour of the building came to a screeching halt as soon as she exited the grand stairway. The Prince was waiting there for her in the corridor. "Hail Ursula" he said perking up at her presence "I hope the day finds you well?"

"No" she replied sourly. She tried to walk around him but he continued to converse with her.

"I am sorry to hear that. I hope that the morrow is better."

She shrugged "I doubt it."

He hesitated for a bit before plucking up his courage "I…uh…I mean to say that…um…well…I, I would like to re-re-request the presence of your d-delightful company at the noon meal." Behind her he cringed at his stammer 'Curses, why can't this be easier?'

"Will there be food" Ursula asked rubbing her tummy, that damn guard had always given her an insufficient amount of foodstuffs.

"Yes…that is the main purpose of the noon meal" Chrom said.

"Very well then" Ursula said.

'Naga, this was so much easier than I had anticipated' Chrom thought triumphantly giving a discreet fist pump. "My sister Lissa shall be dining with us along with some of my boon companions. I hope that it is alright with you?"

"As long as there enough food" the blond said with a shrug "There will be a lot of food, right?"

"As much as you can eat" Chrom promised her as he escorted her to the rose garden.

* * *

All present watched in a mixture of horror and fascination as Ursula chewed her way through seven courses large enough to satisfy three people. "Well, her gastronomic intake is certainly beyond this mortal scope" Miriel commented as she sipped her tea "But I question this vaunted foresight that everyone seems so enamored with."

"I saw the plans before the battle" Stahl said from across the makeshift table "Everything we did came from several sheafs of paper Commander Frederick carried with him from the palace."

"Do you use flowers to divine" Sumia asked enthralled with their guest "Or fire? Did you trance with incense like the Exalt or did you use the Arcana? I use flowers petals myself but I've always dreamt of using griffon feathers to tell fortunes."

"None of those" Ursula answered between bites "Only idiots would divine the future with petals or cards. More veal, now." She thrust the empty plate at an incredulous servant who rushed back to the pantry for the nth time that hour.

Virion was quick to cheer up the crestfallen Sumia from his position behind her "Now, now my love, don't let her coarse words cut you. With beauty such as yours a man can easily see a happy future with you in your wondrous eyes." He drew in close with his hands clasping but Sumia was flustered instead of comforted.

"Oh…um…oh, oh, oh…my…um" she said glancing over at Chrom who wasn't paying attention to her at all "I-I'm sorry Sir Virion, I, there, there is someone else!"

"You wound me, as if I hadn't noticed your longing gazes" the archest of archers replied smoothly "Your heart may be another's for now but know this, this Virion is a hunter and no dame can escape his hawk like eyes and lover's embrace."

"Laying it on kinda thick there ain't Ruffles?" Sully commented pushing the pair of them apart "Give the girl a little room to breathe will ya?"

"My dearest Sully, the color green ill suits you" Virion purred.

"Dream on" Sully snorted sitting back down.

"I must say, when you invited me to this noon meal I was hoping it would be a bit more, civilized" Maribelle groused as she surveyed the present company "Darling, shouldn't you try to make better friends? These bad influences will wreck your chances at happiness."

"Ease up Maribelle" Lissa whined putting down the bonbon she had swiped out of Ursula's reach "These people are our friends."

"Your friends perhaps" the baroness of Themis sniffed dismissively.

"Speaking of friends I'm surprised your nursemaid isn't here" Ursula commented offhandedly, Chrom choked on his tea.

"Wh-what? I don't have a nursemaid!" He was panicking, what sort of man could he be in Ursula's eyes if she thought he was attended by something as childish as a nursemaid.

"She meant Frederick dear brother" Lissa said saving him from saying something stupid.

"He couldn't come because he's in a meeting with the Exalt and the others over the upcoming war with Plegia" Stahl explained fighting to pry a roll from Ursula, he lost.

"Why weren't you invited to that?" Ricken asked Miriel as he stuffed his cheeks full of bonbons.

"I hadn't had a repast so I elected to skip the meeting in order to replenish myself" the legend said pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose "Admittedly, I was curious to glimpse at supposed clairvoyant who, if recent word of mouth is correct, had her breasts fondled by one Frederick the Wary."

Chrom did another spit take "He did what" he roared as he stood up abruptly.

"I also heard that rumor" Stahl said trying to pacify the enraged prince "I heard that he confiscated a weapon from her. He did not fondle her breasts."

Always up for trolling her brother Lissa gave a judgmental humph "I should have known Sir Frederick would stoop that low. 'Twas a sight when he took her down right in front of me and my dear brother."

"So did he fondle your breasts" Ricken asked tilting his head.

"That is quite enough" Maribelle screamed as she slammed a hand down on the table, her face a livid red. "As a highly civilized woman I demand that this company cease and desist talking about fondled breasts this instant! I am ashamed of all of you, prattling on like a couple of uncouth juveniles. This is a place refinement and culture, not the local tavern! I refuse to sit here and be subject to this conversation filled to the brim with iniquity and tawdriness. I bid thee farewell! And as for you!" she pointed to Ursula who was digging into another pile of veal. "The minute you've stepped into these halls all the topics of conversation have centered on you and your highly unsavory past. If you are unable to extricate yourself from this place then I would oh so like it if you were to endeavor to sophisticate yourself. Thank you very much!"

With a spin of her heel she wheeled around and stomped away while Ursula muttered under her breath "Would that I could."

Maribelle's emphatic speech hung in the air for a healthy moment before everyone turned and focused back on Ursula. "So, did he fondle your breasts?" Ricken asked once again head propped up on his hands.

"No" Ursula replied before finishing off her meal and giving a large belch "Not a bad meal, for meat sacks at least."

Sully glanced towards Chrom who had calmed down and was once again dreamily staring at Ursula. 'Oh boy' she thought rubbing her forehead with her hand 'This is going to end badly.'

"Heya guys" a voice called out to them. A large blond man ran towards them squashing several rose bushes in the process "Ow, ow, ow, ow, shit, ow, why do these flowers hurt so much" he whined as he picked thorns out of his pants "Anyway, I finally foud you guys. I had to search the whole damn palace."

"Vaike we've had lunch here before" Stahl pointed out "Repeatedly."

"Heya, ya know the Vaike ain't great with the whole directions thing." Vaike said defending himself "So where's the grub?"

"She ate it all" Lissa said gesturing to Ursula "Y'know what they say about the early bird don't ya?" They all had a good laugh at the blond's crestfallen expression.

As the sunset Ursula disentangled herself from the circus of meat sacks who refused to stop cajoling her. A headache had begun to blossom in her head, she tenderly nursed it as she wound her way through the rose garden into the pond area. A small bench was set up under a tall oak tree overlooking small manmade lake. In a few hours the full moon would be reflected in its waters. Sitting down on the bench Ursula hissed as the pain began to spike. "Is this a side effect of the meat sack food' she wondered 'I wouldn't put it pass those inferior beings to enjoy this grinding sensation.'

"U-Ursula" a voice called out to her. Squinting she made out the silhouette of Prince Chrom standing before her.

"What do you want" she snapped.

"Uh, to keep you company this evening" the prince replied before mentally flinching 'Did that sound like a lewd come on?' he wondered worriedly.

"If you must" she replied, she was far too preoccupied with her head which felt like it was about to burst. Sitting down on the bench Chrom squirmed a bit as he casted about for a topic of conversation.

* * *

"So, what did you think about my friends?" He asked giving a forced grin "They're a little weird but a good bunch and the best fighters in the country."

"I do not have an opinion on them" Ursula growled now regretting her decision to invite the prince to sit with her "Is there a reason why you are bothering me?"

Chrom colored "They're right you know, you really can see everything can't you." He took a breath and stood up "I, I, I'm not very good with this. I can stare down twenty charging Risen but the moment you're around I just…I can't…" He took another breath then turned around to stare at the beautiful sunset "I thought a lot about how to say this but it just never seemed like the appropriate time. Ursula…I, I, I-"

"Stop!" A figure dashed forward out of the shrubbery placing a hand on the prince's mouth "Don't say it, please don't say it."

Chrom ogled the mystery person for a second before jerking back "Marth?!"

The masked man in question was breathing hard; clearly they had booked it to botch the love confession. "Please, sir, stay your words" "he" pleaded with the prince "I highly doubt she can hear you as she is now."

For the first time Chrom noticed the person of his affections was doubled up on the bench. "Naga, what is wrong, Ursula" he asked. The woman couldn't answer him, she was too busy gripping her head and moaning in pain.

"Forgive me sir but we cannot dally here" Marth said "Assassins' will try to kill your sister within the hour. We must hasten to her side."

Despite the pain Ursula managed to hear this and bark a reply "Impossible, I didn't see any assassins coming tonight."

"I do not lie" Marth insisted "This is the night the Exalt will be slain."

"And I am telling you, you are wrong" Ursula screamed "I do not see it, I do not see it!"

"You require proof" Marth asked "Very well then." In one smooth motion he drew Falchion from his side and threw it straight up in the air. There was a scream of pain as the assassin was disemboweled before he came falling back to earth, quite dead.

"Will this suffice" Marth asked retrieving his weapon.

"Indeed" Chrom said drawing his own "Let us be off to the hall of the faith. My sister should be praying there at this hour."

Together the pair ran off leaving Ursula alone in the garden. "Impossible" she groaned grinding the palms of her hands against her head trying to soften the pain "Why, why is it all foggy? Why can't I see?"

"I believe I may be able to shed some light on that unfortunate condition of yours" a very oily voice whispered to her. A hand rested itself on her shoulder causing Ursula to jump off the bench and turn around. A man was oozing his way out of the tree's shadow. His torso and hands were free allowing him to push the rest of his body out of the shadow and onto the bench. He was stick thin, with sallow skin and a smile like a crocodile. He was dressed in purples and blacks and when he spoke the air seemed to thrum. "This is a stroke of luck. When you disappeared from the sanctuary I feared you had been lost to us forever."

"Who are you?" Ursula cried as her head buzzed like a nest of angry hornets.

"I am your father of course" Validar answered.

* * *

While this was going on the castle was in an uproar, assassins were popping out of the woodwork in an effort to delay Chrom and Marth's progress. "And here I thought we had sprayed for assassin" Sully joked as she stabbed one in the throat.

"Keep your wits about you, my honey" Virion cautioned as he sniped one on the ceiling "While they are lacking in direct combat prowess if one manages to sneak up on you they can dispatch you with ease."

"Duly noted" Sully replied, shieldbashing a second one "Maribelle, behind you!"

The troubadour turned just in time to block an assassin's hidden blades with her heal stave. "You brute" she shrieked shoving him back "Today has been awful!" With all her pent up energy she smashed her staff into the poor sap's crotch. As he groaned in agony Vaike took the opportunity to hack his head off.

"Where did they come from" Frederick asked battling two at a time "I find it hard to believe our security was so easy to penetrate."

"There is a large amount of magical energy in the air" Miriel answered him between castings "The size and composition of it can only be explained by a mass teleportation spell."

"That explains that then" Frederick said.

"There is still much that requires further investigation" Miriel said shaking her head "The amount of casting, the rarity of the ingredients, as well as the catalyst that allowed them to boost this far afield with so great a number would be quite a feat for even the most capable of sorcerers."

"How do you know they are from far away" Stahl asked.

Miriel stooped down to one of the bloody corpses and shuffled through their clothes. "I believe this will enlighten you" She pulled out a cloth with an unmistakable pattern woven into it.

"The Eyes of Grima" Frederick commented as he took it from Miriel "Shit, this is bad." He looked up at all who were present "Where's the prince?"

"Coming through" Chrom shouted pushing past his Shepherds with Marth in tow.

"Your Highness, wait" Frederick cried furtively, The pair had rounded the corner just in time to dodge the next pack of assassins who materialized from the shadows.

"Out of the way" Vaike said killing one with a swipe of his ax.

"Look out" Sumia called dashing forward as one assassin swooped in to kill the impulsive man. Her feet got caught up in the rug and she pitched forward hammering the intruder right in the forehead with a bone crunching crack. They fell to the ground just long enough for Sully to run forward and end the assassin.

"Maribelle" she called out "Sumia needs help!"

"I'm alright" the hapless noble insisted as she pushed herself off the ground "We need to get to Chrom."

"You're not going anywhere" Maribelle said pushing the brunette back down "You might have gotten a concussion and if there is one thing men don't like its girls who get concussions." While she was lecturing the assassins' pressed forward, for all the good that would do them. Virion had been spot on, all their effectiveness came from the element of surprise. While they were easy to fight the sheer number of them managed to turn the corridor into barrier separating the Shepherds from their commander.

Angrily Sully did her best to mow down as many as she could "Get the hell out my way" she screamed her blade slicing through the air. With a pivot she bisected two at once but opened her back long enough for an assassin to see an opportunity. Exchanging his sword for his hidden blade he leapt into the air intent on bringing it down onto her neck. He dam near succeeded too but one perfect bolt of lightning managed to impale him in mid jump splattering his him across Sully's back. Unperturbed by the gore running down her armor she glanced behind her "Thanks Ricke-." It wasn't the young mage; it was a figure in a black hood.

"Pay attention" he barked at her as he began to sing another incantation. A second cast rained down a large lightning bolt from the sky that slowly carved a path forward through the enemy group.

"I remember you" Frederick said placing a hand on the person's back "From the forest, you helped Marth escape."

"Now is not the time" the person replied "Help will be on the way shortly."

"More friends of your?" Frederick asked suspiciously.

The hooded figure shook his head "No, more friends of yours." On cue a strange figure began tearing its way through the assassins' ranks. It moved at such a blistering pace that Frederick was unable to see what it was. One thing was for sure though; it was bigger than a horse.

"Killer rabbit" one of the assassins' screamed "Killer rabbit!" Indeed it was, with a mighty leap the beast leapt into the air. Its eyes were blood red and clenched in its arm long teeth was an orange haired man who was screaming for dear life. Crushing several more assassins with its bounces the creature hoped into the Shepherds midst. Before either of them could grasp what they were seeing it began to shift and waver. Soon it was a young woman standing in front of them instead of a bloody beast.

Spitting the man out of her mouth she circled her gazed about them "Are you the Shepherds?" she asked

"Yes" Frederick said placing his spear at the nape of her neck "And you are an intruder."

"Hold" the robed figure said placing a hand on the spear and forcefully lowering it "Panne is a friend, not a foe. Gaius as well. Thank you for retrieving him for me Panne."

"How do you know my name man-spawn?" the bunny asked cocking her head.

"D-D-Ditto for m-me" the man, Gaius, asked as he shakily stood up.

"I know many things" the hooded figure said nonchalantly "But what's important now is not what I know but what the future holds. Without Panne and Gaius your chances of succeeding against the darkness are grim indeed."

"Now hold on a lollipop licking moment" Gaius said "I just came here with these guys to loot the imperial vault. I ain't joining you jawbreaking jokers."

"Then Frederick will kill you here" the robed man said. Frederick was more than happy to comply. He swung his lance forward placing the tip an inch away from the jugular.

"So this is how it is, huh" Gaius said "Fine then, I'll join this lousy Lollipop Guild, for now."

"I will join the Shepherds but only because I owe a life debt" Panne growled "If you dare try to press me into your group I will kill you, easily."

"You're not in the Shepherds yet" Frederick said testily gesturing to the assassins "I'll be evaluating you while you fight. If you're good enough I might be persuaded to let you join." Panne grunted but she complied, transforming back into her bunny form.

"Today is such a black licorice sort of day" Gaius groaned before grabbing his short sword hidden within his sleeves. He disappeared into the shadows reappearing only to cut a throat before disappearing again.

* * *

While war waged on behind them Chrom and Marth zipped down the corridor dispatching assassins with quick, decisive slashes from their swords. "Please be safe, please be safe, please be safe" Chrom whispered as they raced forward. The large, ornate doors that closed off the chapel during the Exalt's silent vigil required both of them to force open. The light of a thousand flickering candles illumined a frightening scene; the assassin was inches away from Emmeryn who was prostrate before the gigantic, gold statue of Naga.

"No" Chrom screamed as he dashed forward "Stop." The assassin jumped with a start, he had not been expecting resistance. Quickly he turned and flexed the stump that had once been his ring finger. The hidden dagger silently penetrated the air as Exalt roused from her trance, the bare flesh of her neck a shining white beacon even in the weak light. Even at their lightning quick pace Marth knew there was no way they could stop him, not without a miracle.

"Naga, hear me" he said placing the blade of his sword against his forehead "Hear my plea."

Taking a deep breath he channeled the holy energies percolating the blade into his being. Unnoticed by anyone the statue of Naga glowed silently adding its own energy to Marth's giving him just the boost he needed to activate the holy sword technique Aether. Chrom felt something feathery brush his side while the air seemed to explode with light. In a flash Marth was in front of the assassin. The arm with the lethal blade was flying through the air, severed from the hand it had been attached to. "I challenge this fate" Marth shrieked as he dissected the man with the second strike.

Chrom slowed as the dots blinking in his eyes began to settle "That was Aether." First there was the fact this Marth had a copy of his sword Falchion, now he was capable of using the technique only the Exalt's line could use. Who was this masked man?

"Mmmmm. Chrom?" Emmeryn asked disoriented by the noise that had roused her from her virgil.

"Are you ok, Em" he asked sliding over to her side "there was an assassin."

"I see" the Exalt said, clearly the fact she was about to die did not list high on her list of concerns. "I felt holy Naga near us" she said looking about "She stretched out her hand. Who did she touch?"

Chrom stalled for a moment "I wish I knew, Em. I really wish I did." He looked about, the masked man had vanished into the night.

* * *

The moon had risen in the ink black sky brightly illuminating the ground below. This same moon light was reflected in the eyes of Validar as he watched Ursula quiver below him as she fought off the vestiges of her headache. "Truly pathetic" he spat as he grabbed her hair and hauled her up "Child of mine, Grima incarnate, on the ground like a worm. Get a hold of yourself." He pressed a point on her forehead channeling a bit of his energy.

She gasped in relief as the pain began to fade "Who are you" she growled as she swayed back and forth.

"Your father, Validar" he replied snippily "You've been gone for less than a year and already you've been damaged."

"I-I don't remember you" she said backing away from him.

"Then what do you remember" the sorcerer asked "Do you remember your home? Do you remember your purpose?"

Her silence betrayed her "Let me see if I can jog your memory" Validar sighed "For the past five hundred years the Grimleal, your loyal servants, have been trying to free you from the prisons the Exalt placed you in. Six of your parts were successfully recovered and transplanted but the seventh, your soul, proved to be extremely difficult to free." He trailed off here hoping she would pick up after him, she didn't.

"After researching the great sage Exodus theorized it might be possible to incarnate Grima into a human body then build her true body by fusing the rest of the six pieces. Thus he took a wife and they slept in the chamber of the Soul in hopes of transferring Grima into their unborn child."

"Exodus was my great, great, great, great, great, grandfather" Validar said "This body was unable to harbor the soul of Grima but you, my child, became Grima itself."

Ursula rubbed her head, it was becoming clearer but at the same time a barrier continued to rebuff her. "I, I need to rejoin with the others" she mumbled, her mission clear.

"Finally, some head way" Validar breathed "We're so close. All these snags are becoming insufferable." He spoke too soon, there was a rustle of cloth in the wind and an assassin materialized in front of them.

"Forgive me my lord but we have failed."

"What" Validar roared "What do you mean you have failed? This plan was infallible."

"It was going well until a masked young man appeared and alerted them to the trouble. They were able to mount a solid defense against us and the masked man along with the prince managed to stop the brother who had snuck into the chapel. We're taking heavy losses."

Validar snarled but after a moment he calmed down "It matters not; this was only to advance our position within Gangrel's good graces. We found Lady Grima, that's what really matters. Let us depart at once."

He grabbed Ursula's arm but she fought him. "Hold on, there are too many holes in your story" she said twisting her arm out of his grip "Why was I lying in a field? How do I know you are who you say you are?"

"Idiot girl, do you not recognize my face? Are you truly amnesiac or is it…" Validar placed a hand on her head "A memory curse, quite an advanced one at that." He mumbled stroking his beard.

'There are only a handful of people capable of curses this intricate' he thought as he began to channel magical energy 'Excellus, you little piece of shit.'

Ursula jerked back as pain reflooded her head "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Just hold still. The pain will only last a moment."

Ursula slapped his hands away "Get away from me meat sack."

"Do not struggle with me" Validar barked grabbing her hair "I will not see this plan go awry. Not while we're so close to paradise."

She scratched at him but he easily overpowered her "Open the rift, we're leaving." He instructed his assassin.

"Hey now, no need to rush off" a booming voice called out from beside them. The silver arc of the axe reflected the moonlight as it came crashing down on the arm grasping Ursula's hair. "And that is not the way you treat a lady." Basilio admonished as he hoisted the weapon back onto his shoulder.

Validar glanced down at his severed limb for a second before jumping back to avoid the follow up strike. "You ok" the giant asked looking back over his shoulder at Ursula.

"I'm fine" she replied carefully rearranging her swoop back over her right eye "Don't expect any thanks."

He laughed "Never, now let's cleanup the rest of these bastards."

"Snags, snags, snags" Validar spat as he grabbed his tome from inside his cloak "Why must I iron out all of these by myself." The Elthunder pulsed with a violent light as he began to sing:

**Swirling bolts, gather and strike with power!**

**Strip away the ground with glistening blades!**

**Angry spirits of the world strike now!**

**Heavenly bolts, bring Grima's justice!**

The air crackled with energy as the magic took physical form. Pushing Ursula down Basilio whipped his ax in front of him in a last ditch effort to protect them. The bolt slammed into his chest and he grunted in pain as he struggled to keep on his feet. The magic attack had whiffed Ursula entirely.

"Is that the best you got" Basilio barked grasping the handle of his silver axe "I barely felt that."

Validar didn't reply, it was far too feeble a boast to take seriously. Instead he dropped the melody resting for a full pause before repeating the opening stanzas. He was hoping to put the giant oaf down and reclaim his daughter but Ursula seized the opportunity he had given her. Pushing past the khan she grabbed the book just as Validar was about to start the fourth and final stanza.

**Swirling bolts, gather and strike with power!**

**Strip away the ground with glistening blades!**

**Angry spirits of the world strike now!**

**Heavenly bolts, bring Grima's justice!**

The magic grew unstable, with the two incantations being sung out of cadence it began to breakdown in an effort to satisfy both casters at once. "Fool girl" Validar shouted as a large web of lightning began to weave itself above their heads "Do you plan to kill us both?"

She didn't get a chance to answer; a massive hand grabbed her shoulder and flung her several feet away. "Hwoooooaasrgh" Basilio cried as he slammed the blade of his axe into Validar's middle. The force of the blow should have rent him in two but an abnormal amount of resistance caused Basilio to peer down. The blade was caught on Validar's skin that, instead of peeling away like normal skin, gave away bit by bit like terracotta or scales.

"Naga" he muttered before all hell broke loose. The Elthunder, unable to maintain its form in the physical form, blew apart in a spectacular array of multicolored bolts of white hot lightning. Both opponents convulsed but for Validar it was a lethal blow as all the lightning ground itself through Basilio's axe directly into his thoracic cavity. As the magic faded he staggered back, the axe falling from his chest as clean as it had been going in. Behind him his loyal assassin appeared and grabbed him from behind.

"Is the portal ready" he asked.

"Yes milord, shall we go without Lady Grima?"

"Yes, take me to Aversa as fast as you can" Validar commanded clutching his chest "There is no time."

A quick sprinkle of warp powder later left Ursula and Basilio alone. Groaning in pain the massive man fell onto his back like a giant oak felled by a woodsman. Walking over to him Ursula bent down so her face looked over his "You're pretty stupid" she commented "You could have died."

Even with small bolts of lightning still sparking off his body he gave a small chuckle "Go fetch a healer will ya?" Then he passed out.


End file.
